No mirrors, no helmets, no safety, no future

DAR ES SALAAM: HAVE you ever been stuck in traffic at Ubungo or Kariakoo, only to watch a boda-boda rider zoom, zigzagging between cars with a wild grin and not a single side mirror in sight?

That is not just everyday chaos, it is chaos in many towns now in Tanzania, let alone neighbouring countries. One by one, side mirrors on boda-bodas are vanishing into thin air. Poof! Gone.

No accident, no theft, no replacement, but just deliberate mirrorocide in broad daylight. What used to be a basic safety feature has now become an eyesore to today’s youth, especially our beloved boda-boda riders, who have decided side mirrors are either slowing them down or-God forbid killing their swag.

According to a random (and rather shocking) sample taken right here in Dar es Salaam, out of ten boda-boda riders parked in a spot, only two had side mirrors.

And frankly, even those two looked like they were about to yank them off after this editorial.

Let us be honest: the logic is absurd. Removing side mirrors to zigzag more easily between traffic? That is like removing your eyes to see more clearly in the dark.

There is no poetry in stupidity, no elegance in endangerment, and certainly no fashion in fatalism. Where, pray tell, is the traffic police when this madness is becoming a movement?

Are they squinting into the sunset, hoping this will fix itself? Side mirrors are not decorations. They are not optional extras like fuzzy dice or flame decals.

They are the bare minimum requirement for riding a motorbike.

Without them, a rider is as good as blind to what is approaching from behind, be it a reckless bus or another equally blind boda-boda. And when everyone is blind, you don’t get road safety.

ALSO READ: Police call for joint efforts to educate bodaboda riders on road safety

You get road roulette. But it doesn’t end there. This fashion-forward rebellion has now evolved into full-blown acrobatics.

Boda-boda riders, pumped up by election fever and the lure of political rallies, have taken to loading not one, not two, but up to three passengers on a single motorbike.

If you squint hard enough, it starts to resemble a human pyramid at a school sports day except here, the stakes are a lot higher, and the road is a lot meaner. To the Traffic Police: We know it is campaign season.

We know politicians need cheering squads. But road safety should not be another casualty of politics.

If a rider is spotted carrying a party of three or four on one motorcycle-none of whom are wearing helmets, it should not end with a polite wave.

It is time to act. Start with public awareness campaigns and let the youth know that being alive is more fashionable than having handlebar minimalism. And while you are at it, enforce the law like it still matters.

So, riders, let us keep the speed, but bring back the mirrors. And Traffic Police, kindly stop watching the show.

It is time you called “Cut!” before the next scene turns tragic.