On Friday the 23rd July 2021, we witnessed tricycle riders’ peak of recklessness with the most unfortunate incident involving Muhammed Ali Tanimu’s 8-year-old daughter; AMINA who was brutally killed after a tricycle rider on high speed roughly and recklessly crushed her to death while on her way home.
According to an eye witness in the area, the Keke NAPEP rider was on high speed then suddenly lost control and knocked down Amina Mohammed Tanimu leaving the 8-year-old with multiple body fractures, deep external injuries and severe internal bleeding that cost Amina’s life after she was referred to Yobe State University Teaching Hospital from Damaturu specialist.
Tricycles, popularly known as Keke NAPEP, were presumably introduced as a poverty alleviation gesture on the part of the government since many jobless youths and other individuals were expected to benefit from it through ownership at subsidized rates and later as an alternative to the notorious commercial motorcycles following the degeneration of the security situation years back, have recently metamorphosed into the very same nightmare they were introduced to banish, causing monumental mayhem on the roads.
But what was then generally considered as a blessing has over time degenerated into a traffic nightmare for road users in many towns and cities. For the most part these days, Keke operators are seen struggling to outdo the former notorious motorcycle riders in recklessness on the road in their mad rush of reckless over-speeding, disobeying traffic rules and meandering through every little available space between vehicles in twisted traffic situations.
If you are an observer of the way these tricycles move on our roads, you will be compelled as an individual to call for an outright ban of this means of transportation. The Keke Operators who are mostly youths full of exuberances, very rude and most of the time are too much in a hurry with no concern to exercise caution even when riding in densely residential areas and or highways. Other traffic concerns associated with Keke NAPEP include frequent stop-over not minding locations and overloading.
More often than not, they ram into other vehicles in a bid to get to their destination quickly and make a brisk turn back to catch more passengers.
As a way forward, those tricycles engage in overloading to make extra gains, such as carrying an extra passenger at the driver side after carrying the specified 3 passengers at the back seat, thereby affecting the proper operation of the tricycle in the event of any unforeseen circumstances that makes it difficult for the driver to manoeuvre the tricycle resulting in disaster. Relevant agencies must enforce severe penalties for overloading to avoid ghastly accidents that can result to death.
Most importantly, authorities should embark on periodic sensitization of the drivers in order to know dangers attached to their activities, and also organize training for poor drivers among them as most just dabble in what they called ‘SOJAN HAYA’ with minimal or no training exposure.
Finally, concerned government authorities and stakeholders at every level must show interest and get involved in sanitizing, administration and regulation of Keke NAPEP riders against their continuous reckless driving with the rising rate of Road Traffic Accidents and death associated with tricycles while law enforcement agencies must be resolved and begin strict enforcement of relevant state traffic and safety laws which had been flagrantly ignored and abused.
WE PRAY THAT MAY ALMIGHTY ALLAH GRANT AMINA’S PARENT AND FAMILY THE FORTITUDE TO BEAR THE IRREPARABLE LOSS OF A CHILD AND MAKE HER A SOURCE OF ETERNAL REST FOR THE PARENT IN HEREAFTER. AMEEN!
Suleiman Dauda writes from Damaturu, Yobe State.
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