With the growing urban disorder caused by motorbike riders in the Bamenda metropolis, the Bamenda city council which has been battling to cope with the phenomenon is now exploiting new avenues to ensure that motorbike riders in the city are brought to order.

It is for this reason that the Bamenda city council has entered into partnership with the Cameroon National Youth Coalition to carry out an intensive road safety campaign as well as train the bike riders on best practices when they use bikes especially on the highways.

The first in a series of such campaigns took place in Bamenda recently with emphasis on schooling the bike riders on the need to respect the Highway Code, drunk riding, over speeding and other poor road habits that lead to road accidents.

During the first training and sensitization exercise, the bike riders were cautioned to respect council regulation on motorbikes as well as respect the Highway Code amongst several other ills that have been linked to the motorbike sector in the city.

According to the president of the Cameroon National Youth Coalition ,Neba Nestor Anyele,his organization is non-profit making and apolitical with the objective to “ provide redevelopment opportunities and equal rights to young active citizens in decision and policy making ,good governance through educative training ,capacity building and entrepreneurship.

“He said considering the numerous road accidents due to reckless riding, over speeding, non-respect of highway codes, strike actions manifested by motorbike riders CNYC intends to provide opportunities for these bike riders to contribute to the development of economic infrastructure, prosperity and wellbeing of the community.

He said it is against this backdrop that the CNYC reached out to the city council for a public private partnership to put order in the motorbike sector in the municipality.

Officials of the Bamenda city council at the campaign disclosed to The Sun that following the prime ministerial order of 2008 limiting the circulation of bikes to the peripheries of cities as well as rural areas, the Bamenda city council has taken the necessary measures to ensure that the decree is respected.

This has been through a council deliberation that was passed about two years ago stipulating how the bike riders should function in the city of Bamenda.

Unfortunately, though the decision has met with a stiff opposition from the bike riders who have not only flagrantly violated the orders of the council but continue to carry out their activities with impunity.

The situation has further been compounded by some local politicians who ,in the build up to the 30th September 2013 elections, some local politicians took up positions with bike riders on grounds that their votes were highly needed for the election victory.

This has not only fueled chaos but has led to rampant theft, road accidents and other public disorder caused by the over 3,000 bikes that now flood the streets of Bamenda.

The Bamenda regional hospital already has an accident ward which is always full to capacity with victims of bike accidents.