LÉOGÂNE, Haiti — Each weekday morning in Léogâne, a coastal city about 21 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, schoolchildren climb onto motorcycle taxis—often five or six at a time—to get to class.
With buses, tap-taps and minivans largely gone from the streets, motorcycles or moto-taxis have become the town’s primary form of transportation. But the unregulated system operates in open violation of traffic laws, exposing children to serious injury or death and underscoring Haiti’s broader public transportation and road safety crisis. Riders range from preschoolers to high school-age children.