Cinnamon Zone

Ever since the tragic accident that took place on the Jerash-Amman road and there has been much talk as to whom should be held accountable and the reasons behind the accident.

The first reactions were naturally about the bus driver. “Bus drivers drive like crazy” That’s the classic phrase you would hear before anything is revealed about the nature of the accident. I don’t tend to generalize, but I have to say that it’s very true in most of the cases.

Now, the new thing here is that it seems like many Jordanian are starting to adopt the “Sue the bastards” attitude by pointing fingers at Al-thiqa transportation company. Well, I don’t know much about the reasons behind the accident. I don’t know if it was the driver who dozed off on the road or if it was something wrong with the bus. But there’s something interesting here: Every year the Hijazi buses have their fair share of accidents that result in different casualties, but I don’t remember hearing anyone urging to shut down Hijazi Bus company. Why? Because things don’t work this way, you can’t go about shutting down transportation companies. This is in no way a solution. Yes, find the responsible ones, sue them, but let’s look at the whole picture here and try to answer this question: w ba3dain? Till when?

Just think of how many accidents happen on the highways, how many people are killed every year and try to figure out the problem. Is it too many working hours for the drivers? Higher standards for the buses? Better maintenance? More strict laws on speed? You name it.

Back to the Jerash-Amman road accident, if it was true that it’s the company’s fault because the driver didn’t sleep for 40 hours, then I’m all for suing them for all they’ve got. Raze it to the ground if you will, but if it was true what the police said about speeding being the reason behind the accident, don’t you think it’s quite unfair to punish an entire company, with all its employees, because of one person deadly mistake? I know in the rush of emotions some people might hate me for this, but I think it doesn’t make sense. There’s nothing much I can say now but, may God have mercy on those innocent souls, the victim of whatever negligence or violation, and grant their families all the patience they need to survive the catastrophe.