Is this life?

My inbox today had this concern of a colleague:
"We all know how dangerous the road to town has become after dark. It was confirmed again last night, when one of our Department staff members (Jeffrey Ambelye) and his family were stopped by 8-10 men, 3 guns, umpteen bushnives and rocks - just before 10pm. They were assulted by the thugs, who then stole essentially everything (all clothes included) bar their vehicle. This occured at the terrible piece of road near the Madang Compound exit. The irony was that they had driven all the way from Mt Hagen. It seems we have two really bad hot spots on Independence Parade. I know the easy answer to the current problem is to not drive to town after dark or in the middle of the day, but surely the University has enough political clout to get something done about the repair of the road. Rumour has it that LCA won't fix the road because it is designated as a "National" road. Is this the case?"