Fighting Road Accidents: Government Launches Application to Monitor Drivers
A click on the “Go” button by the Minister of Transport, Jean Ernest Messena Ngale Bibehe officially launched the centralised management and monitoring platform for Inter-urban road transport of passengers in Cameroon.
Ym@ne Driver which is in its pilot phase automatically went operational at about midday Monday September 27, 2021 with about a hundred buses being monitored.
The digital platform consists of monitoring room from at the ministry where experts monitor, in real time, the activities of the driver, the road and passengers through three intelligent cameras installed on their buses.
The behaviour of drivers, risk factors and the speed of the vehicle are recorded by the application that automatically sends an alert to the driver and slows down the vehicle if it is speeding excessively.
During the pilot phase, five vehicles per agency have been selected and the road axes chosen include: Douala – Yaounde, Bafoussam – Yaounde, Douala –Bafoussam.
The Director of Raod Transport, Divine Mbamome Nkendong while presenting the project explained that ministry checks the roads through an equipped control room in the ministry, the transport agencies, concerned in this pilot phase do so via the terminals installed at their respective agencies.
Ym@ne Driver described as an innovative system that can monitor all dangerous road practices and properly manage the circulation of all forms of vehicles on the highway.
The Cameroonian initiative and first of its kind on the African continent is the fruit of a public – Private sector partnership between the Ministry and Camtrack, the Minister noted.
Rate of Accidents
Statistics from the Ministry of Transport show that the numbers of road accidents in the country has reduced over a decade as the technology which has been under examination for about five years was first experiment in fuel transporting trucks with positive results.
The decline is estimated at 31% between 2011 and 2020; down from 3525 accidents with 1697 deaths in 2011 to 1588 accidents and 633 deaths. However, the year 2020 witness an increase in accidents compared to 2019 which recorded 1533 accidents and 627 deaths.
It is expected that the rates of accidents will reduce significantly with the implementation of Ym@ne Driver.
Impact of Accidents
Studies from the Transport Ministry also reveal that Cameroon lost some 100 billion CFAF due to road accidents in 2011 and the amount skyrocketed to 800 billion CFAF in 2020.
It also revealed that road accidents constitute the first cause id deaths of youths below 25 years.
The death of a family head causes 22 years of misery for the family
In 2020, about 22% of road accidents were caused by persons with driver’s licences.
Specificities of Ym@ne Driver
Travel agencies approved by government are on the platform,
The platform gives an alert once the driver approaches a risk zone or exceeds recommended speed,
The system is incorporates the driver licences, road worthiness certificate and all vehicle documents to ease identification,
Passengers can denounce road malpractices on the highway through the whatsapp using the numbers 620224529 or 620224520 or 620212741
Clients can download the Ym@ne Driver app through play store and Google play to have information on approved travel agencies and book appointments.
