Yemeni activists and tweeters circulated a video of a person transporting his family of nine on a motorcycle, which sparked interaction on social media platforms.
Although the bike was originally designed to carry a maximum of two people, this is often not adhered to in Yemen, where motorcycles are a common commuter due to living conditions, as it is customary for three or more people to ride them even though this violates the law.
However, the video, which was widely circulated by Yemenis, shows the transfer of a person to his entire family of 9 people, including women and children, on his bicycle designated for transporting two people, while sources reported that he was traveling with them from Sana'a to Hodeidah, a distance of about 230 kilometers between the two governorates.
It should be noted that traveling on this road is difficult in normal circumstances, as the car needs about 5 hours to cover this distance, due to the ruggedness of the road and the large number of turns, and the summer heat conditions and the mountainous nature of the road increase the seriousness of the matter.
Dangerous adventure
In its episode on (2023/9/6), Shabaat program monitored part of the Yemeni commentary on the video clip circulating for this family, including what Muhammad Nasser wrote, "A mistake and a lack of responsibility, even if its circumstances are destitute, it is not permissible to throw them to perish in this dangerous adventure."
Agreeing with him, Yahya tweeted, "This is a very big mistake, if the father is risky with his life, then by what guilt do those souls that do not understand anything about the dangers and the roads perish. Don't tell me about the conditions of the country, they were being moved in stages."
In a lighter tone in holding the father responsible, al-Saqr al-Sharabi wrote, "The mistake is wrong, but what I blame is because he put the country to allow him to take a car, and the real pain is the lack of humanity in our country."
On the other hand, Nabil Ali sought an excuse for the owner of the motorcycle, saying, "This person certainly does not have to act like this except out of necessity, but risking his children like this is suicide, and this certainly deserves support and assistance."
Samir Abdel Aziz tweeted, "The issue is pain and heartbreak, it was done because of a disability because he was unable to afford travel, which forced him to risk his life and the life of his family all this distance."
Local media reports indicate that there are more than one million motorcycles used as a means of transportation in Yemen, and the law prohibits more than one person from riding behind the driver of the bike, while traffic statistics in Sana'a indicate that about 24 percent of traffic accidents from January to August 2021 were caused by motorcycles.