No, I can’t bear it anymore.
 |
| Douala, Cameroon |
An important question to ask is how costly
traffic jam is to road users and the government. The simple response is here:
very costly. Firstly, road users, if they must be on time at work, will have to
lose much of their sleep. This reduces efficiency at work and by extension, productivity.
It is a common saying now in Cameroon, “you cannot cheat nature.”
Drivers will also lose much fuel only to
have their cars buzz like bees but remain on the same spot all day. This lack
of progress tends to frustrate users and the much dreaded outcome ensues, a recital
of badmouthed insults that can practically raise the dead. True, with a bike,
it is possible to slither like a snake through the traffic and get to your
destination half late. But ask the inhabitants of the town the most insulting
road users they have to tolerate and forgive daily.
When
the construction of the new bridge
over the river was on course (the former bridge built by the French in
the 1950's
is perfectly out of date) the traffic was so nightmarish that you could
practically spend a day crossing the two-kilometre bridge. Then the
heavens agreed and we had a new bridge, which is fully functional now.
But the
problem of traffic at Rond Point, a few people have been saying, can
hardly be
resoled if there are no other roads to divert as much of the traffic as
possible
before it reaches the roundabout.
It is but normal that if day-to-day running
of private businesses is affected, then the government will have little or no
income from taxes and even fewer bridges will be built and much more traffic
will increase and the cycle will continue.
Let’s not mention the health implication of
inhaling a whole cloud of smoke from stuttering exhaust pipes of angry riders,
or the loss of knowledge as students miss their classes. Let’s be silent about
missed flights and the lost business ventures people must bear because of
unbearable traffic.
I work up on time and set out to work on
time and arrived work late. Certainly I am not in love with the traffic in
Douala. I have not yet made up my mind to join you on your way to work or
school at midnight. But I can say one thing with certainty: being on time is no
longer enough if you live in the bustling town of Douala and have to cross the Bonaberi
Bridge to work or school.
