Taxi Driver Online

Nigerian riders wear vegetable helmets to avoid local laws


As the motorcycle world rides into 'Check your Helmet' month in April, the ingenuity of Nigerian riders to avoid their own laws has gained the attention of the World Health Organization.

In Nigeria's northern city of Kano, motorcyclists are dodging new laws that force them to wear helmets by wearing dried pumpkin shells. The pumpkin shells are called calabashes and more commonly used to carry liquids.

The police are serious about enforcing the motorcycle helmet law and have already stopped several of these calabash-wearers. Fifty motorbikes have been impounded and motorcycle taxi drivers have staged protests.

Motorcycle taxis - called “achaba” - are a cheap form of transportation, but drivers are reluctant to give their passengers helmets, claiming that they steal the helmets once they reach their destinations. Newspapers are also reporting that some passengers fear that helmets could be used by taxi drivers to cast spells on their passengers.

According to the Nigeria Federal Road Safety Commission, more than 4000 people die and 20 000 are injured each year on the country’s roads. The number of motorcycle taxis has been increasing rapidly, causing a real concern for road safety.

Created in 1991, the World Health Organization Helmet Initiative promotes the use of motorcycle and bicycle helmets worldwide and serves as a resource for those wishing to learn more about helmets and to promote their use. The Helmet Initiative stimulates and provides a resource to public health agencies, safety organizations, nongovernmental organizations and other agencies to promote the use of helmets.

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Fears of black magic, infections and ruining their hair keep Nigerians from wearing helmets


Lagos: Perched on the back of a motorbike taxi, riding through the streets of lagos, an elegant female passenger holds a red plastic construction helmet as far above her elaborate hairdo as her arm can reach.

This is compliance - Nigerian style - with a new law making it compulsory to wear a crash helmet.

Calabashes, aluminium buckets, cycling helmets, riding hats with metallic stripes painted on them - commercial motorbike riders and their passengers have resorted to all sorts of weird and wonderful headgear since the new law took effect January 1.

"Okadas", as motorbike taxis are known in this west African country, weave in and out of the huge traffic jams that have become the trademark of Lagos and Kano, the most populous cities in Africa's most populous nation of 140 million people.

Walking in Lagos is well-nigh impossible as the pavements are filled with okadas.

The riders, "okadamen", are reluctant to give way to larger vehicles, even if one of them is an articulated truck. Accordingly, as the number of okadas has risen in the past few years, so had the number of serious accidents, Jonas Agwu, the Lagos sector commander with the Federal Road Safety Commission, said.

Okada drivers are obliged to carry a helmet for the passenger, but many passengers object to wearing them for hygienic reasons.

"Some people might have skin diseases; if I use a helmet I put a handkerchief under it," Ajayi, a Lagos resident, said.

Others wear a shower cap or even a plastic carrier bag.

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin