Traffic accidents involving public transport continue to cause disasters in Algeria. On Thursday morning, a bus transporting workers veered off the road and fell into a valley at the exit of the municipality of Ibn Ziad in the province of Constantine, in the east of the country, resulting in the death of six people and the injury of 22 others, according to an initial count.
The Civil Protection services reported that the accident occurred at approximately 5:19 AM, and rescue teams from the secondary unit of the Ibn Ziad district, supported by several other units, intervened to evacuate the victims and take care of the injured, who were quickly transported to nearby hospitals. The intervention operations continued for hours due to the nature of the accident and the difficulty of reaching the site of the bus crash.
The governor of Constantine went to the “Hakim Ibn Badis” University Hospital, before visiting the Dr. Hafid Boujemaa “El Bir” Hospital, to check on the conditions of care for the injured and to make sure of their health condition, at a time when the competent authorities began their investigations to determine the exact reasons that led to the driver losing control of the bus.
This incident comes less than a week after another tragic traffic accident in the province of Timimoun, where a passenger bus traveling the Batna-Adrar route collided with a truck on National Route 51, resulting in the death of four people and injuries to 43 others. The accident occurred in the early morning hours, a period that typically sees heavy traffic between provinces, before the Civil Protection services intervened to evacuate the injured and transport them to the local hospital.
However, the most painful accident in recent days was the one that occurred in Boumerdès province on July 31, when a passenger bus coming from Setif province veered off the road and overturned before plunging into a deep ravine in the El Karma area, leaving 28 dead and 38 injured, in one of the biggest traffic disasters that Algeria has witnessed in recent years.
Images of the accident that shook Algeria and led to the declaration of national mourning showed the extent of the damage to the bus, after it rolled a long distance down the slope before coming to rest almost completely wrecked. The rugged terrain of the area reflected the difficulty of the rescue operations, which required the deployment of dozens of personnel and ambulances to evacuate the victims and the injured.
The judicial investigations later revealed new information, after the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Boumerdès Judicial Council announced that the results of biological analyses proved that the bus driver, aged 33, had used various narcotic substances, and two tablets of psychotropic substances were found in his possession. The investigation continues to determine the extent to which these elements are related to his loss of control of the vehicle and its deviation towards the slope.
This development has revived the debate about tightening control over public transport drivers, especially on long journeys, and the extent to which institutions operating in the sector respect safety conditions, whether in terms of the health and psychological condition of drivers or working and rest hours, as well as the technical monitoring of vehicles.
These incidents are not isolated cases, as Algeria has witnessed a number of similar disasters in the last two years. In August of last year, a passenger bus fell from a bridge in Wadi El Harrach in the capital, killing 18 people and injuring more than 20 others, in an accident that shocked the public and renewed calls for the modernization of the bus fleet and stricter controls on public transportation.
The latest weekly figures from the Civil Protection highlight the scale of the phenomenon, as during the period from July 26 to August 1, 1,553 traffic accidents were recorded across the various states of the country, resulting in the death of 74 people and the injury of 1,951 others, while the state of Boumerdès had the heaviest toll due to the bus disaster that claimed the lives of 28 people.
Official statistics indicate that traffic accidents are still one of the leading causes of death in Algeria, with the roads claiming about three thousand lives annually, in addition to tens of thousands of injuries. Data issued by the security and civil protection services confirm that the human factor remains the primary cause in the majority of accidents, whether due to excessive speed, dangerous overtaking, fatigue, or failure to respect traffic rules.
On the other hand, transport operators raise issues related to the unavailability of original spare parts in the market at reasonable prices, in addition to the problem of the scarcity of tires and the obsolescence of public transport vehicles in light of the decline in imports that allow for fleet renewal. These are the issues mentioned in the recent statement of the taxi drivers' union.
Statistics confirm that traffic accidents still represent a real challenge for the authorities, despite the authorities’ reliance on the new traffic law, which came into effect months ago, to bring about a decrease in the number of accidents, by tightening penalties for serious violations, especially those committed by drivers of public transport and heavy vehicles, while raising penalties for manslaughter and accidental injury resulting from serious violations or driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
The law also includes subjecting professional drivers to periodic medical examinations, obliging them to respect driving and rest periods, as well as establishing a national information system to track violations and link them to driving licenses and vehicles, allowing for the monitoring of drivers who frequently violate traffic laws and taking deterrent measures against them, given that public transport represents the daily means of transportation for millions of Algerians, and that any disruption to its system could turn an ordinary journey into a new human tragedy.
Tags:
africa
