PNGCars

On the 12th of January, ‘Black Tuesday’ as the media calls it, 39 people died instantly when an overloaded PMV travelling down from Mt Hagen and heading for Lae slammed into another PMV heading in the opposite direction in the Markham valley.

The accident happened near the Umi bridge, along a straight portion of the Highlands Highway which cuts across the flat Markham plains.
According to eyewitness, the PMV bound for Lae, travelling at high speeds, veered into the opposite lane to avoid large potholes and collided with the oncoming PMV (bound for Gusap in Markham Valley).
Many passengers of the Lae bound PMV were killed instantly by the force of the impact, some catapulted outside of the bus.
There were few survivors. According to official figures, 45 people perished in the accident, most of them from the 25 seater PMV heading for Lae.
It is the worst single road accident on record in PNG.
Many people representing various organizations and interest groups have spoken to the media after the accident.
Dr John Mua of the Motor Vehicle Insurance Limited made the call for passengers to pay more attention to the vehicles they are travelling and get off the vehicle if they feel in danger because of mechanical issues with the bus or the driver is drunk or is speeding excessively.
He believes that speeding and reckless driving contributed to the accident.
According to the Director of the National Road Safety Authority, Frank Aku, driver error contributed to the crash.
Investigating the scene of the crash and the pothole(s) at the center of the accident, Mr Aku found that there were more than 20 potholes along the stretch of road where the accident happened.
He believes the driver of the Lae bound PMV crossed to the other lane to avoid the potholes and miscalculated, unable to veer back in time to avoid the bus bound for Gusap.
He stated that if the passengers were wearing seatbelts there would have been less deaths.
He also believes that many PMV drivers are unqualified, having obtained their licenses through paying bribes to authorities.
Meanwhile, at the funeral of the PMV driver who died in the accident, his tribesmen said they would take up the issue of the accident with the owner of the PMV.
They allege that the PMV was experiencing mechanical problems prior to the fatal trip. The deceased driver did not wish to drive the vehicle until it was fixed, however the owner said he already had picked up passengers and promised to fix the bus after they returned from Lae.
Because of the large number of mainly Western Highlands travelers who died on the accident, the crash is now a very delicate tribal issue.
Survivors of the bus said the bus was overloaded with more than 25 people and cargo. Combined with speed and a possible mechanical problem, this was a recipe for disaster
Many authorities and the police continuously mention the MVIL ‘Road Safety, Its Not A Game Campaign.”This campaign uses Australian Rugby League players to reinforce key messages of road safety and has incentive to get PMV drivers involved in reducing accidents.
At the same time, the media has played an important and independent role in making people more aware of road accidents and contributing factors.
Prior to Black Tuesday, 2010 started quietly with no major accidents unlike previous years. However, Black Tuesday has brought us all back to reality.
Firstly, potholes are no laughing matter. No matter what is said about the drivers of the PMVs and the conditions of the buses, this accident would not have happened if not for the more than 20 potholes along that stretch of road.
Secondly, a better study and awareness campaign needs to be implemented for PMVs that do the Highlands to Lae or Highland to Madang route.
There is a culture of speeding with these PMV drivers and also with passengers who encourage drivers to speed, so that they can get to Lae or Mt Hagen while there is still light in the sky.
Also many drivers and owners speed so that they can squeeze more trips for more money. Many drivers experience fatigue from running trips consecutively without rest.
The state needs to put in place permanent highway stops to check overloaded PMVs, drunk drivers and also to stop drivers from building up unnecessarily high speeds.
It is easy to break the law on our highways because there is no laws out there. Increasing State presence and possibility of penalties will be a major deterrent.
The state should look at enforcing seatbelts on all PMVs, this simple measure could have so many lives in the accident.
The weigh in station at 9 mile in Morobe province should be fixed to monitor the weight of vehicles and cargo on the Morobe portion of the Highlands Highway. Overloaded vehicles are not just dangerous but also contribute to potholes.
There are many more suggestions you can make. Please share with us your comments.