Abstract
This chapter follows on directly from Chap. 7, as the transport theme moves from walking and cycling to motor-mobility, but it brings to the fore a very different set of mobility experiences. Young people discuss their views and experiences of travelling in the shared space of the motor vehicle: motor-mobility not only enables an extended spatial reach but introduces an environment rich in potential for both welcome and abhorrent interactions (squeezed bodies and wandering hands, the heavy beat of the latest popular music, rude jokes, raucous laughter, sexual innuendo, etc.). Also, for many, the ever-present, nagging fear that forces—human or occult—may bring the journey, the vehicle and all its occupants to an untimely end. The threat of injury from traffic accidents is a significant risk factor in young lives; the final part of the chapter presents young people’s perceptions of risk and their experiences of traffic-related accidents (including as pedestrians).
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Notes
- 1.
The modes most commonly met and discussed in this chapter are as follows:
Taxi: in Ghana this is a saloon car licensed to transport passengers in return for payment of a fare (but, unlike in the Global North, not typically fitted with a taximeter and not usually hired by individual passengers). [In South Africa the term ‘taxi’ is used mostly in the context of the minibus taxi which is larger and equates to the Ghanaian ‘tro-tro’: the metered taxi in South Africa is a separate mode.] In Malawi, the term taxi barely enters children’s motor travel stories and the minibus reigns supreme.
Minibus: This is usually a large van, adapted to seat c. 10–14 passengers. In Ghana these are known as ‘tro-tros’. In South Africa the larger ‘kombi’ minibus may carry up to c. 15 passengers. Minibuses usually operate on fixed routes for set fares, but not to a timetable (they usually set off when full).
Bus: a larger vehicle with up to c. 60 seats.
Bakkie: a small pick-up truck (i.e. with an open body, usually covered by a canvas or metal canopy) often used for transporting passengers and goods in rural South Africa.
- 2.
Though being a footballer is now starting to make strong inroads in the aspiration stakes—see Chap. 5.
- 3.
- 4.
Here referring to the larger minibuses.
- 5.
In the Gomoa (Ghana) study, where children’s traffic accidents were investigated, the local police headquarters reported that most accidents were caused by vehicle mechanical faults.
- 6.
This claim is not substantiated by survey accident data for the site but of course much depends on who was interviewed in the survey and who was not available for interview (if a fatality resulted); there is no clear indication of the severity of these reported accidents.
- 7.
The difference in RTA incidence between countries is statistically significant.
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Porter, G., Hampshire, K., Abane, A., Munthali, A., Robson, E., Mashiri, M. (2017). Negotiating Transport, Travel and Traffic, Part 2: Motor-Mobility, Traffic Risk and Road Safety. In: Young People’s Daily Mobilities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Anthropology, Change, and Development. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-45431-7_8
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