Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by The Guardian
Many will have been pained upon hearing of this Tuesday’s Singida Region road accident that left six people dead and 55 injured.
According to authoritative sources, the accident bus overturned after a front tyre burst upon coming across a deep pothole in the middle of the road.
It is reported that the driver lost control of the high-capacity vehicle after the pothole impact, veered off the tarmac and flipped several times before landing.
The police commander in the region talked of having launched a comprehensive investigation into the technical and environmental causes of the crash even as, for onlookers, the matter ended with noticing the gaping pothole at the centre of a major road, with vehicles speeding.
It is as if Tanroads (the Tanzania National Roads Agency) would have placed an extra road sign a couple of kilometers to the spot, warning drivers to reduce speed – as ‘gaping pothole ahead’.
The police commander was understandably on a guarded tone as to the crash, while some of the onlookers interviewed blamed the driver for the tragedy.
It is unclear if road traffic regulations demand that drivers necessarily ought to know everything ‘suspicious’ lying ahead even if they are new to the area and there is warning road sign.
There were also some pleasant scenes in how the public reacted to the mishap, as the respective district commissioner is on the record as having found delight and consolation in the zealous help local residents and rescue units showed in helping those trapped in the mangled bus, including guarding the victims’ scattered belongings.
There is no detailed story as yet on how everything went in the aftermath of the crash, but some of those who heard the remarks of top officials at the scene came off with an impression that stealing wasn’t too visible on the scene.
This is commendable, as there are times when ‘insensitive’ individuals pickpocket the dead or the seriously injured instead of helping with rescue efforts.
This accident is a kind of snapshot of progress in infrastructure progress and also why we ought to not just celebrate these achievements as there are stern tests we face including failing the maintenance test and thus in some cases leading to needless loss of life and limb.
A pothole isn’t something that comes up in the course of a day but it is, by definition, allowed to develop over time – which shows lack of zeal in the work of those concerned for ignoring the tell-tale signs that the spot was an intrusion in the driving.
It suggests that those concerned were thinking of future repairs, while assuming that motorists would automatically swerve around the pothole and it was therefore nothing to worry much about. Tragically wrong!
