The Gibsons online blog

You often see them leaving Djibo, heading off to Bouro fully loaded up for the  market that takes place there every three days.  To be generous these lorries to tend to look a little tired and often the tyres look a little more so.  I'm not quite sure what the weight limit is for HGVs out here if there actually is any but it seem the rule that if you can fit it on without falling off then it's good to go.  Now seating capacity in the UK is often restricted to three persons in a cab.  Here in the north of Burkina where public transport out to the three day markets is somewhat sparse and people just tend to take whatever transport they can and often it will be on top of these more than fully ladened vehicles. 

Now I don't know whether you can picture the sight of one of these trucks swaying from side to side under the enormous weight they have to haul (the more you fit on the more money you make), anything between 10 & 30 people on top risking all to get to market.  You may think this is just an accident waiting to happen.  Well, the week before last it did.  Just 1 km from its destination a lorry fully ladened with grain, oil and other goods, including passengers, blew a tyre and over it went.  I was told that three people died at the scene and another two died of their injuries on their way to hospital. 

You may have thought that this would have been a pretty severe wakeup call to the way people risk their lives just to get to market, and yet three days later, on the same road, heading to the same market, trucks where loaded up to the hilt once again along with the days regular quota of passengers.