Life often reminds me of how fragile it can be and sometimes these reminders come in the most unexpected ways. Anytime I wake up to see a new day and manage to live through the hours until evening, there is always a reason to appreciate the source of life.
Many people believe that it is by their strength or carefulness that they make it home safely every day, but moments on the road often prove that safety is not entirely in our hands. You can be the most careful person on the road, but accident can still happen, not necessary that it might be your fault but a mistake or someone else mistake might cause the accident. That, I realize while I was returning from work and witnessed a series of accidents.
The road I usually take home is an expressway that links several places together. It is a double lane, one side for cars going in one direction and the other for cars coming from the opposite direction. Each lane is wide enough to take about two cars side by side, so in normal conditions, traffic flows smoothly.
On this particular day, the order of things changed. A large truck, heavily loaded with goods, lost control and collided with another truck that was coming from behind.
The impact of this accident was serious enough to block an entire lane of the road. With one side of the road blocked, vehicles had no choice but to share the other lane, using it for both incoming and outgoing traffic.
This was where the chain of accidents began. Many drivers, being used to the regular flow of traffic, did not realize that one lane had been blocked and that the remaining lane had now been converted into two way traffic. They drove as though everything was still normal, maintaining their usual speed without adjusting to the new situation.
One of the most tragic cases involved a small public vehicle that was carrying about nine passengers. The driver probably ignored or did not see the signs placed on the road to indicate the change. Unaware of the danger ahead, he drove at a high speed, not knowing that a truck was approaching directly in his path.
The design of the road itself did not help matters. It is built along a hillside, which means that at some points it looks like it slopes downward, while at other points it seems to slope upward. Because of this, visibility is often limited to drivers. Drivers cannot always see vehicles coming toward them until it is almost close. That was the situation on this day.
The public vehicle driver did not see the oncoming truck because the road bent and sloped in such a way that it blocked his view. By the time the truck appeared directly in front of him, there was no space or time to avoid the crash. The result to a terrible head on collision. The impact was so severe that three people died on the spot, the driver and the two passengers. Others in the vehicle sustained serious injuries, and some were left in very critical condition. Road safety officials arrived at the scene shortly after and quickly moved the injured victims to the hospital in an attempt to save their lives.
Not long after that, as we continued moving, we came across another accident. This time, a trailer had capsized and fallen into the bush beside the road although the details of how it happened were not clear. To witness three major accidents along the same stretch of road within such a short time was so disturbing. These incidents is among the increasing rate of accidents on that particular expressway. People have given the place a name" Many has gone".
The question that kept coming to mind was whether the main problem was the structure of the road or the behavior of the drivers.
On one hand, the road is built on a slope and not leveled properly, which makes visibility a challenge. Drivers cannot easily see what is ahead, especially when speeding. On the other hand, many drivers ignore road signs, drive recklessly, or use vehicles that are not in good condition. In some cases, it might even be both, the road makes driving difficult, and drivers fail to adjust by slowing down or being more cautious. My opinion is for drivers to be careful while driving.
Posted Using INLEO