In this article, Brian explores the concept of masculinity and road safety; what does it mean to “be a man” and what are the implications for road safety practise? Students studying Traffic Engineering with a focus on road traffic safety, in their pre-exam period worked on a special road safety campaign project; shooting video and creating the preliminary design of posters.
The aim of the campaign is to point out how dangerous it is to use a mobile phone while driving, whether for communication and especially when taking photos a.k.a #selfies. Although the Law on Road Traffic Safety allowed the use of hands-free devices, it is not considered completely safe and recommended that the mobile phone is not used while driving.
I don’t know about you, but there is a consistent language, behaviour and action among male road users in Africa that throws one’s brain to (oh my word) ask “Is the world really coming to an end?” It’s becoming as common as potholes to see new slogans clearly encrypted on motorcycles, passenger and saloon cars trying to praise the masculinity of the drivers or passengers.
Hold it! Iam not talking about “Mourir Comme Un Homme” (To die like a man) which is a French-portuguese film directed by João Pedro Rodrigues in 2009. As men, it should worry us as much, as males have more than three times the death rate of females on the roads.
The tendency of most African males to view themselves as invincible superhuman is perhaps best summarized in the words of Bright Ambeyi Oywaya:-a renowned road safety activist as ‘Madness just’.
Andrew Mugasha, a 25 year old local boda boda (commercial passenger motocycle) disagrees however when he says “I know it’s risky, but look, we don’t have ambulances either. Can I have a seatbelt on my bike?” Clearly, there is a knowledge gap and a less perception of risk.
Ofcourse we cant talk about road safety without talking about Engineering, Education and Enforcement, but personally inclined choices are key. The socio-behavioural sciences and their impact to health and health seeking behaviour have a canny explanation related to our culture.
Young people have been creating ‘memes’ about road safety.
Men were supposed to be this muscular, strong, risk taking character who could quite literally wrestle with a leopard, but with the decreasing wildlife, modernisation coupled by emergence of public health disasters, the definition of men has (so it is) changed. If we keep thinking, we can drink and drive, throw away seatbelts, speed whenever we like, overtake when we want and do whatever we please on the road, we can as well confine ourselves into a cultural museum.
