The information was provided by the vice-provincial governor of Luanda for the economic sector, Gilson Carmelino, in a meeting with the police and the Angolan Motorcycle and Transport Association (Amotrang), after the announcement of the measure that will ban the circulation of motorcycle taxi drivers in main streets of the capital.
Gilson Carmelino expressed the great concern of the authorities with this situation, emphasizing the need to avoid deaths resulting from accidents involving these professionals, with a record in the first quarter of this year of more than 300 deaths.
"In terms of numbers, Luanda's central morgue has carried out more than 110 funerals for motorcycle taxi drivers and others every month, but with a greater incidence for this class," said the official, highlighting that the majority of victims are from other provinces of the country.
According to Gilson Carmelino, with the recently announced measure, still in the awareness phase, the provincial government intends to guarantee safety for young people who carry out this activity, aged between 17 and 35, who represent around 95 percent of motorcycle taxi drivers.
"The measures have been published and we are currently in a period of awareness, therefore, the measures have not yet been applied. Our National Police personnel are informed and prepared to raise awareness and not apply any restriction measures", he highlighted.
"Our motorcycle taxi drivers must continue to carry out their activity without any restrictions, but they must begin to comply with the guidelines so that we have traffic on our roads without deaths, without blood, without injuries. We need to guarantee the well-being of our motorcycle taxi drivers, who have a great influence on the transport of people and goods", he added.
The government of the province of Luanda decided to ban the circulation of moped vehicles, motorcycles, tricycles, quadricycles and trucks on the main roads in the province, due to the high rate of accidents and deaths, which led motorcycle taxi drivers to react to the announcement by holding a protest, Thursday, in several streets in the center of the city.
