Motorbike accidents have emerged as a leading cause of death in road traffic accidents, with casualties in motorcycle accidents doubling in the last two years.
As worrying as the statistics are, they don’t tell us anything new but do offer a new way of looking at the root cause of the abysmal road safety situation.
The astronomical rise in motorbike accidents is the direct consequence of the increasing number of bikes on the road, which is a direct result of inadequate public transport services, particularly in the cities.
Of the 6,000 odd deaths in road accidents in 2021, 2,214 were killed in motorcycle accidents, making them 35.23% of the total casualties and 38.68% of all road accidents respectively. Just two years before that, in 2019, the total deaths in motorbike accidents stood at 945.
Despite the grisly picture these numbers draw, motorbikes are not, and should not be seen as the root cause of this disaster, because this is very much part and parcel of its parent disaster -- the lack of a reliable public transport system.
It takes only circumstantial evidence to know, for lack of enough data, that people choose to buy and ride motorbikes to be able to commute between destinations quickly and affordably. CNG fare is costly and bus rides are chaotic, and none of these can be described as fully functional, given lack of reliability.
It should surprise nobody that people want the minimum comfort of not having to wait indefinitely for a CNG and then haggle a price they can hardly afford, nor should it be demanded of the country’s citizens that they choose to be carried around like livestock in what are called public buses.
To end the tragedy of mounting deaths in motorbike accidents, the authorities should strictly enforce traffic laws, with particular emphasis on headgear rules for bike riders and speeding and lane control rules for all vehicles.
To truly solve the problem, however, the authorities will have to improve road safety and create a functioning public transport system. There are no shortcuts.
