Carnage threatens road transport

Gory road crashes continue to dominate the media space, despite increasing efforts by the authorities to educate road users on traffic regulations.
The high fatality rate on the roads is also being recorded at a time when the police have intensified patrols along all the major highways in the country.

The accidents are also happening in the wake of the government's increased investment in improving road networks. This makes it difficult to draw a correlation between bad roads and road accidents because some of the fatalities are recorded on first-class roads.

The George Bush Highway, otherwise known as the NI Highway, has recorded some of the goriest fatalities in recent times.

Perhaps there may be some other reason that accounts for the road crashes that the police, the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) and the transport operators are yet to come to terms with.

But the reasons for road accidents are not far-fetched. It is basically the utter disregard for road traffic regulations. Most motorists park at unauthorised places, leave their breakdown vehicles in the middle of the road, overtake at wrong places, overload their vehicles, speed recklessly and drive under the influence of alcohol.

The figures from the police on road accidents between January and September are quite startling. The report said over 1,320 road users were killed in the country during the period. The statistics said every month over 165 people are killed in road crashes, while five are killed daily on our roads.  The report said 9,189 accidents, involving 14,200 vehicles, were recorded during the same period.

The accident that occurred near Akatakyiwa Junction, a farming community between Biriwa and Yamoransa on the Accra-Cape Coast Highway that claimed the lives of 16 passengers last Saturday night only goes to reinforce the need for increased education of the motoring public.

However, these institutions cannot escape blame for the carnage on our roads. It is regrettable that some personnel of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service have reduced road checks to "gold mines" from which they extort money from errant drivers.

There is incontrovertible evidence of the negative activities of some policemen, as not too long ago the Police Administration had to transfer some of them from Sunyani to other places because of their involvement in extortion from drivers.    It is no longer pleasurable to travel by road because of the fear of accidents.   The Daily Graphic, therefore, calls on all stakeholders — the police, the NRSC, transport operators, the public and the government — to continue the national conversation on the gory road crashes with the view to making our roads safe once again.

There must be order on our roads to facilitate effective communication, as a smooth transport system facilitates the movement of goods and services throughout the country.

An efficient transport system stimulates the economy for growth and it is important that the heavy investment in the road sector yields the necessary dividends by reducing the loss of lives on our roads.

Daily Graphic/Ghana