Beyond The Suspension!

The decision by Transport Minister to suspend driving licences for some recalcitrant road users is obviously laudable. The common crime the defaulters committed that fetched them the three-month suspension – excessive speed on the highway, has been a recurrent torn on the flesh of Cameroonians. Frequent road accidents, partly blamed on over speeding, attest. 
Insisting that the defaulting drivers will throughout their suspension period be prohibited from all driving activities can be strong enough to cause transformation in them, provided stringent measures are put in place to reinforce the respect of the Ministerial decision. The move could equally discourage other drivers from indulging in similar acts whose detriment to the population and the State is non-negligible. Stakeholders therefore need to wholly lead to its logical end the “Operation Zero Accident” Special Road Sensitization, Prevention and Monitoring Campaign under which the defaulting drivers are punished. 
The campaign alone shouldn’t however be seen as a means to an end. Others came and went before “Operation Zero Accident” and suspending driving licences has been a common activity of the Ministry of Transport for long now.  But the popular outcry of road accidents here and there remains recurrent across the country. Employing the ‘stick’ and ‘carrot’ as the Special Road Sensitization, Prevention and Monitoring Campaign entails, is certainly innovative but all those involved in the road safety chain must not neglect other important policies in ensuring that people and their goods circulate in the country in all safety. 
There is notably the issue of the road worthiness of a car to ply the roads. Even the best and most careful of drivers on rickety vehicles cannot avoid accidents, most of which are fatal. Recently embraced policies to this effect equally need to be applied indiscriminately too. Precious lives of citizens shouldn’t be sacrificed on the altar of sometimes menial egocentric interest like letting g...