When people hear of accidents the next thing they expect to be mentioned is injury or death. Between injury and death, which one do you fear most?
Most of the motorcycle accidents which have been occurring in my community are involving women. These have been contributed by so many factors:-
1.Women are found of opening a conversation with the motorist.
-Sometimes you will hear a loud conversation between the motorist and their costumers .No one can serve two masters at the same time therefore once motorist’s attention is diverted from the road,there is a possibility of them causing an accident.
2.Women get scared so easily
The bible describe women as weak creature.Women are very weak in the sense that they get scared even from minor things.There are some petty things which we do meet on the road like all over sudden
a mouse or a cat or any other animal crossing the road. These things are normal and you will be surprised to hear a woman shouting ‘My God,Jesus,Christ,Mum’ and many sorts of words. These confuses motorist’s attention hence an accident can easily occur.
3.Motorist’s have no respect for women
For us to live in harmony and happiness in this world,we should respect one another as we respect ourselves.You will find that a good number of motorist’s have no respect to their women clients.Excample;when a woman caution a motorist not to overspeed they dont take heed and when a man caution them on overspeeding they reduce the speed. Many lives have been claimed due to overspeeding.
4. Women are always curious to see what is happening behind /at their back.
Women are found of confirming what is happening behind them.When they hear a sound of a vehicle or anything appropaching from behind,they will turne to have a good look not knowing that the motorist is watching everything from the side mirrors.When you interfere with your sitting position when the motorbike is in motion,the motorist will have difficulty in balancing and this can lead to an accident.
5.Clothes women wear
Clothes have contributed to a good number of motorcycle accidents.When you put on tight skirt for example,it will not give you the comfort you may want on the motorbike .A tight skirt may expose woman’s body and sometimes ending up being half naked on the motorbike. Also it is very difficult to alight from the motorbike encase of agent need.
Long garments like lessos, neck scarfs, robes and many others should be worn with a lot of care. Women should not allow these clothes to hang loosly because they can have contact with the wheel. Once they tourch the wheel,they are rolled and this can cause an accident. Imagine a wheel rolling your neck scarf from your neck or your lesso from your waist. What do you think will happen next? ‘an accident’
6.Women fear to hold on strangers{motorists}
It is very important for everyone to hold a motorist or the steel bars from behind.Women find it difficut to hold on the motobike from behind and at the same time they fear holding the motorist. Due to this fear factor,women end up hanging loosely on the motobike and this can easily cause an accident.
Do we have Solution to these problems?
‘YES’
a) There should be a community forum where women should be tought on how to use motocycle as a means of transport
b) It will be more advantage to design a special motobike for women. This will give women chance to ride on their own.
c) Women should avoid convesing/conversation which may divert motorist’s attention.
d) Women should be encouraged to get training on how to ride a motobike. This will help them handle their fellow women safely.Women fear causing accidentst thus cases like riding while drunk or under drug influence will be very minimal.
e) Motocycle should be given speed governors. This will prevent motorist from riding at a dangerouse speed.
f) When all these are done, motocycle accidents will be greatly reduced.
3 Comments
Good points but arent we too hard on women here. Do you think helmet, good training for Operators, govenment issued lincense, Pesengers to wear jeans where loose clothings is a problem. Trafic laws to be followed. only one passenger at a time,mandatory helmet law like in seatbelt law. All operators should have insuarance.
Who is ready to take this risk? probably none but want to believe that,we can reduce this ,taking of % its challenging are threatening who will be the next victim…is it because we just localised this means of transport without proper guidelines ,i believe this is the course but again….overexitement from the youths who for along time dint have anything like ajob to be involved once to this kind of business
They just want to get rich quickly without proper care of their lives,can the government work on proper regularities before this percnetage increases.
Have a governed time ,wont you?
I think our biggest worry right now should be the increasing numbers of fatal accidents caused by motor bikes. Both men and women have been involved and the effects have been disastrous.
With hospitals now having special wards for motorbike accident victims – head, limbs and spine injuries that leave young people incapacitated the rest of their lives, something urgent needs to be done.
You are right, crash helmets and reflector jackets should be a must for any rider or passenger. But some have been known to ride under alcohol influence. Others do not have the required S and G class liscence meaning they never went to a driving school to learn how to to ride a bike.
Remember, mo’bikes are not PSV insured and everytime you ride one you are risking your life. But like Robinson says, they are the only means of transport we have in the rural areas.
The question is, how can we as a community make motor bike transport safe? We cannot afford to ignore this problem. Treating a motorbike accident victim may cost over 500,000/- and this is not a guarantee they will ever be normal again.
May be we need to hear about our home made solutions to this menace??