For some years now, we have seen an icrease in the number of people in the bicycle pick up business. The number of people operating such businesses is so huge that one wonders if they really make any profit. One fact though that cannot be denied is that a lot of lives have been lost and more will be lost if this is unchecked. While the National Road safety Council of Malawi (NRSCM) has been carrying out safety trainings for the bicycle taxi operators, I am of the view that considering the number of lives being lost, this is just a waste of the tax payers money. The only rational decision I feel, would be to outlaw the business.
While others may argue that doing so would be denying a lot of malawians a source of livelihood-which I agree, I feel livelihoods ought not to be earned at the expense of other peoples lives. It is my opinion that there are many very profitable businesses which these people can do to earn a decent living. As a nation, we need to seriously think if this business is really sustainable as a means of livelihood. The government I suggest should force these people out of our roads and also make them understand that there are so many very profitable avenues they can pursue while in their villages for a source of livelihood.
Those who may wish to argue that the business is a source of livelihood should be reminded that even vending, touting and theft are in themselves sources of income yet we deem them unacceptable for the likely dangers they pose to our society. In this case I am of the view that it is not going overboard to compare the Kabaza business with the forms of livelihood above. Given the fact that in all these cases, lives and property may be lost and it is difficult to regulate the businesses, it follows that they should all be illegitimate sources of livelihood.
Any business whose risks greatly outweighs its benefits and only brings misery should not be allowed to thrive. It is my view that the business is not only very dangerous but also difficult to regulate. Given the number of bicycles involved in the business and many others that may still be joining, I do not think NRSCM can really manage to civic educate all the operators. On the other hand, it is very difficult for the already overburdened traffic police office to enforce compliance to the rules and regulations-remember a bicycle rider is a road user and just like anyone else is supposed to observe all traffic rules and regulations.
It is also a fact that most of the bicycles that operate on our roads are not fit to engange in such a business. As if this is not enough, most of the operators have little -if at all they have any, knowledge of the highway code. It is very disheartening that people who cannot even interpret a single road sign are trusted with human lives by being allowed to operate the bicycle taxis. For instance, if one was to conduct a snap survey on the level of knowledge these operators have on the highway code, one would understand the tragedy which we have at hand. It would be worse if you could do another survey on the bicycles that are being used: very few bicycles have mirrors, brakes and almost none has reflectors yet these are pre-requistes for a 'vehicle' to operate on any road.
Thirdly, the bicycle taxi business needs to be banned because it has contributed to the growing untidiness of our towns. Due to the congestion caused by the increasing number of operators, town assembly workers do not thoroughly clean the towns. That a side, most of the operators themselves produce a very unpleasant odour due to continuos cycling -and also may be lack of personal hygiene.
Sadly though, it looks like the government has for all this time chosen to remain silent on the issue perhaps because of the fact that being a source of livelihood, the issue could somewaht be political. Nonetheless, governments have a duty to protect lives and property hence it is imperative that the government moves in to protect lives.
2 comments:
hahaha haha are you serious? you're complaining about the smell of people who cycle all day? hehe illegal body odour... what about all other manual work; would you outlaw farmers and builders too?
your argument seems to be based on high numbers of deaths from the well-known industry of bicycle taxis... can we see these numbers please?
i thought most of these guys operate on dirt roads out of town, connecting people from the bus stage in the boma to the villages they want to get to... am i wrong? so in such circumstances can you die from falling off a bike-with-no brakes? really?
anyway it sounds like a useful initiative of NRSCM, i wonder how the participants traveled to the workshop? who funded that... and were their allowances more than the fares they would collect in a cycling day? and as they were learning... did they smell?!
Well, Acacia I never want to dwell on the smell. The smell could be nothing if the business itself was worth the risk(to the rider). But see, the smell aside, there seems to be very little of value to this business. In actual sense we all produce an odour of some kind but then do these people have time to take a shower? This is perhaps the only business apart from the fuel business and the bottlestores that operates 24 hrs. The characters are the same and you wonder whether these people have families..children and if at all they are part of the team that produced the surplus maize we claim we have.There seems to be more filth than meets the eye in this and to me it seems there is no better way the business can be made better. You see, I do not have complete details as you would have noticed the article itself was never complete.. On average, 2 people die everyday in Kasungu due to Bicycle taxi accidents, 6 die a week in Salima and the figures could be more. If you do simple mathematics, on average Kasungu loses 14 a week and ??? a month. This is a business that started as a noble thing trying to link people from the main roads to the dusty roads leading to their villages. Somewhere in the last five to ten years, we lost control over it and its now in all townships-It is there in Mzuzu fondly called Sacramento,its there in Zomba called Zobanduka, in Liwonde, Kasungu, Balaka, Dedza, Ntcheu, Salima, KK and in some parts of the capital lilongwe- Area 25 for example the list goes on. I have no problems with them operating in small feeder road in their villages but not in the townships. We need to get the towns back to sanity.
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