Occupyghana® suggests measures to reduce carnage on our roads | General news

Most of our roads are in an abominable state. It is the result of decades of neglect on the part of successive governments. To this negligence are added the indiscipline of some drivers and the profound lack of enforcement of traffic laws by officials.

All these factors have led to the horrific accidents and carnage we see on our roads – a sad fact that OccupyGhana, like all Ghanaians, lament.

It is in this context that OccyGhana® joins the nation in honoring the families of over 60 victims in the latest accident on March 22, 2019 on the Tamale-Kimtampo road. May all lost people rest in peace.

That's three years after the death of 70 pbadengers in a subway bus accident on the same road near Kintampo. To date, no report has been seen on this and no action has been taken against the bus company for recklessness.

The statistics on road accidents in Ghana give a rather gloomy picture. More than 46,000 people have reportedly been killed in road accidents since 1991. According to the National Road Safety Commission, six people die every day on Ghana's roads. The WHO estimated that about 7,000 people died as a result of road accidents in 2016. According to reports, Ghana loses about $ 230 million a year because road accidents.

The majority of victims are motor vehicle occupants, although pedestrians, especially children, are not spared either. Recently, with the increasing commercialization of motorcycles as a means of transport – okadas – the number of deaths due to motorcycles is also increasing. The first two months of 2019 have already seen 411 motorcycle deaths.

Some roads and highways seem particularly prone to accidents: Accra-Kumasi highway, Accra to Aflao-Togo highway, Accra-Cape Coast -Takoradi highway and Kumasi-Techiman-Kintampo-Tamale highway. In the Greater Accra area, the Accra-Tema Highway and the George Bush Highway are hotbeds of injury and death.

What makes the situation even more dramatic is the lack of an effective emergency response system to deal with these accidents, the lack of ambulances and helicopters to transport, and the well-equipped trauma centers to to treat the wounded.

The approach taken to address this national scourge should be multimodal and led by the government and its respective agencies. Thus, we recognize the fact that the President has shown leadership on this issue when he set up an interdepartmental committee last year to consider the growing number of fatalities on the roads in the country. The three-member committee identified indiscipline on our roads as the main factor contributing to the multiplication of road accidents. This is evident in the non-compliance with speed limits, overtaking, driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, long driving periods, non-compliance with the rules of the road by motorists, including the non-use of the helmet.

With all these recommendations, OccupyGhana® is disappointed by the slow reaction of the Ministry of Transport, the National Road Safety Commission and the Ghana Police Service in implementing the laws of the Road Traffic Regulation (LI 2180). . As mentioned earlier, non-compliance with the Highway Code, especially speed limits, is one of the leading causes of death on our roads. We are asking the respective agencies to intensify their efforts to strengthen discipline on our roads. We also ask the government to publish the full report of the task force.

Busy in Ghana, guided by the four technical experts in road safety, namely engineering, law enforcement, education and emergencies, would like to make the following recommendations to improve safety and security. fight against the growing number of victims of our roads:

1. Apply all laws of the traffic regulations (LI 2180).

2. Commercial vehicles and heavy goods vehicles shall be equipped with speed limiters and tachographs not exceeding 80 km at the time.

3. Audits of private transport companies should be conducted to regulate their operations.

4. Drivers of commercial vehicles must undergo an annual medical examination before being able to drive a pbadenger bus. Certificates of fitness to drive a commercial vehicle must be issued by licensed physicians from licensed health facilities.

5. The law restricting the use of motorcycles and tricycles for commercial purposes must be enforced and tricycles prohibited on motorways and highways.

6. All trucks, buses and commercial vehicles must be physically tested in DVLA approved test stations.

7. The MTTD of the Ghana Police Service must arrest members of law enforcement, such as GAF staff, firefighters, immigration, customs, as well as others. vehicles that break the rules by driving in the center and on the side of the road without legal sirens.

8. The revision of the legislation on the use of DV and DP plates like most drivers of these unregistered vehicles are very recalcitrant offenders.

9. Tricycles and mopeds should not be allowed on high speed arteries such as the Accra-Tema highway.

10. Establishment of an emergency response system and trauma centers.

11. Improvement of our roads, traffic lights and signs.

12. Intensify public awareness campaigns on road safety.

It has been said that the way people drive in any country is correlated with the level of discipline or the lack of discipline in that country. Indiscipline on our roads can be a faithful indication of the indiscipline that plagues us. This is no longer a topic of discussion. It is a problem that costs lives and money and we, as a country, have to stop and solve it.

Yours truly, for God and country

OccupyGhana®