The National Gendarmerie is not relenting its efforts to ensure that 2015 ends without the unnecessary loss of lives to road accidents. In continuation of its road safety campaign, gendarmes were on the Yaounde-Boumnyebel highway in the Centre Region on December 24, 2015, to ensure that travellers reached their destinations safely.

At Ngoung, about 120 km from Yaounde, the road safety team was led by Major Mevono Dieudonné. He explained that focus was on ensuring strict respect of the Highway Code by sanctioning defaulters; noting that the most recurrent offences were over-loading and over-speeding. Major Mevono stressed the need to search vehicles in the face of heightened security alertness all over the country following suicide bomb attacks. He cited the case of a corpse that was discovered in a public transport vehicle earlier in the week, with no papers to prove that the car was transporting the dead body.

At Maholé, 130 km from Yaounde, Captain Biessala Luc was in charge of gendarmes that kept watch. The offences were the same like at Ngoung. The driver of a Nissan jeep was booked for two reasons – “inappropriate” driver’s licence and non-transparent glasses. Captain Biessala explained that the man was still using the manual driver’s licence instead of the computerized version that took effect about two years ago.

Because the driver could not pay the required fines, his statement was taken and the matter transferred to the State Counsel at Esseka in Nyong and Kelle Division. Meanwhile, other erring motorists acknowledged their fault and paid fines, not without first arguing.