Minister Bans Night Travel by Inter-urban Buses

Ban On Night Travel: Cost-Benefit Analysis

By Ernest Ndukong

Many a Cameroonian received the news of the banning of night travels by inter-urban buses with a lot of disbelief, claiming it is insensitive. The motive and economic implications of this decision would establish whether or not it is efficient.

Road transport is most widely used in Cameroon; conveying goods and persons from one part of the country to another.

The ban would cause people to unwillingly spend nights out of home. Hotel and other relaxation sites should realise an addition in income. Restaurants, off-licenses and bars would witness an upsurge in sales thus profits.

On this strength, what, then, will obtain for persons who have just their exact fares to travel back home? Famous stop-overs like Melong, Kekem and Makenene would surely loose their reputation. The economic contribution by these stop-overs to their respective localities will definitely be undesirable. A comparison of what is lost by one party and what is gained by another is of great concern for decision-making.

Considering that it might be boring to sleep alone in a strange town, many will resort to partnering, leading to an increase in the demand for sex workers. The consequences are obvious so shouldn’t be overemphasised.

Most attacks by highway robbers (coupés de route) on transport vehicles have happened at night. Thus, such unpleasant situations would be averted with this ban. Conversely, it might reduce the number of victims as the ban apparently does not affect private road users. Attacks may be frequent because there will be fewer vehicles on the road and an alarm by a victim may go unnoticed.

Life expectancy ratios of drivers would also witness a rise. Scientists have proven that sleeplessness has a great knock on long life. Now, would the many vehicles compelled to ply the highways during the day not lead to uncalled congestion which severely hampers economic activities? What about commodities which are perishable in nature?

Cameroon is an inter-dependent nation for most commodities. Vegetable consumption in Yaounde and Douala depends highly from production in the West and Northwest Regions. An additional 24 hours would diminish the nutritional and medicinal value of the green crops.

Tourism is another sector to benefit from the ban of night travels by Minister Bello Bouba Maigari. Cameroonians would resort to site-seeing when they are forced to spend an extra day out of home. What still remains unanswered is whether the pleasure gained is worth the cost of a day lost as a result of postponing a journey to the next day.

Nevertheless, some people argue that travelling at night has little to gain in terms of saving a day as your next day is almost totally useless because of fatigue.

Is Ban An ‘Arrive Alive Measure’?

According to Aoudou Dotel Moussa, Director of Land Transport at the Ministry of Transport; night travels constitute just about five percent of human transport and, 35 percent of road accidents in Cameroon. The question now is what measures have been taken to prevent the remaining 65 percent of road accidents?

The ban will only reduce deaths by accident to 818 a year if one were to go by 2010 figures, from the Ministry of Transport, which stood at 1.258 deaths and over 5.000 wounded.

There are many other causes of accidents which, if nothing is done to suppress them; it might be a ‘penny-wise, pound-foolish’ decision to only ban night travels.

A trained driver in a thoroughly serviced and properly loaded car on a bad road may equally have an accident even in the day. Possession of a driving license is no guarantee to be a ‘good driver’. Also, this ‘good driver’ who is well rested in an un-roadworthy vehicle, driving at controllable speed on a good road can equally have an accident both in the day and at night.

Thus, the Ministry of Transport has to ensure that; vehicles comply with roadworthiness rules, over-speeding is checked, drivers’ licences are not issued to unworthy drivers, roads meet standards of good state and a host of other measures to assure an ‘arrive alive’ journey for Cameroonians.