A pile of scrap iron and four dead bodies. This is what remained on the road after the incredibly violent accident that occurred near Bagatelle. Rajwanand Jagoo, the lorry driver employed by Bonieux A. & Co Ltd, is provisionally accused of manslaughter. After his arrest on the day of the accident, he was released on bail. He had to pay Rs 50 000. The lorry driver explained that he was driving to Port-Louis when he suddenly lost control of his truck. This is how he found himself on the other side of the motorway, where he literally swept away a taxi car driving towards Curepipe.

Four of the five persons in the taxi were killed, decimating practically a whole family. The only survivor, the taxi driver?s wife, Fazila Dustafir, is still under observation at the Candos Hospital. She has lost her husband, Sheik Ahmad Hamza Dustafir (37 years old), her son Abdul Hafiz Dustafir (9), her mother, Bibi Jahan Kausmally (57) and her aunt, Bibi Hafroz Korimbocus (63) in the accident.

Although the truck driver claims he was driving at 40 km an hour, this accident reminds us how lethal our roads have become. Finance minister Pravind Jugnauth himself recalled it in the Budget speech: ?Mauritius has one of the highest death rates due to road accidents worldwide.?

The service médical d?aide d?urgence (SAMU) had much difficulty in reaching the place where the accident occurred as the accident itself had caused such a traffic jam. There was also a lack of discipline among drivers. Instead of being patient, many of them tried to take the emergency lane causing even more congestion thus preventing the SAMU from reaching the area immediately.

Nine deaths in one week

This terrible accident has raised concern at police level and may lead to an emergency plan involving the police helicopter and the SAMU. More than a possibility, such a plan seems to be becoming a real necessity.

According to the Central Statistics Office, there were 19,178 road accidents reported to the Police in 2003 among which 121 were fatal and 211 caused serious injuries. Compared to the statistics of 2002, there was a drop representing around 16% in the number of fatal accidents but serious injury accidents rose by 30.2%.

The figures for the first half of the year 2004 are not that marvelous either. According to the Road and Safety Unit (RSU) data, there have been 62 deaths due to road accidents from 1 January to 15 June ? an increase of 13% compared to last year.

These statistics are all the more eloquent in that the accident involving the Dustafir family was not the only fatal one last week. There were no fewer than nine deaths due to road accidents. On Saturday evening, G. Emilien, a 60-year old inhabitant of Bambous died immediately after the car in which he was travelling on Saint-Martin Road crashed into a pay-loader without hazard lights.

Pedestrians are no safer. A young six-year old girl, Marie Bella Nathalya Cornet, died in Jeetoo Hospital after she was knocked down by a motorcycle in a hit and run. The next day, Marie Solange Belleois, 63, died following multiple injuries caused by a truck, which hit her while as she was crossing the road in Port-Louis. On the same day, little Oomar Lowtun, 15 months, died under his father?s lorry. The latter was reversing in his drive and he did not see his son.

Theoretical and effective measures

Yet, the Road and Safety Unit is striving to set up campaigns and programs to prevent such tragic accidents: ?Talks are very regularly delivered in Youth centres, Community Centres, Municipalities, Village Halls, Factories, Transport Companies and Commercial Firms and Sugar Estate etc." The unit also organises seminars in collaboration with the private sector to make people more conscious of road dangers. Likewise TV and radio programmes have been set up in this context.

But such ?theoretical? measures are not enough to prevent people from being thoughtless on the roads. This is why the RSU also carries out effective measures such as ?speed checks, breathalysers, checking of vehicles in dangerous condition and preventive patrols to discourage careless, negligent and dangerous driving?, for instance. It is not just a question of educating drivers but also of discouraging them from driving in a reckless manner.