Safe to Safety Campaign on roads for children
Ten-year-old Loislyn Esi Eshun’s dream of becoming a medical doctor has now become a mirage, as she has been out of school for the past six months.
Since she was knocked down by a speeding vehicle earlier this year, Loislyn moves with the aid of a wheelchair and needs help with every movement she makes.
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Loislyn, together with her family, had just alighted at the Mallam Junction in Accra from a trip to Takoradi and were about crossing the road to their house, which is just a minute’s walk from the junction, when she was knocked down by the speeding vehicle.
“Everything was so swift, I realised my daughter was lying still on the ground with blood all over. One lady who was not too far from us said, “Madam, I believe your daughter is dead,” her mother recounted.
For Adwoba, Loislyn’s mother, Saturday, May 7, 2022, the eve of Mother’s Day, was the worst day of her life.
Aid
Before the dreadful event, Loislyn, who was a basic four pupil at the Gbawe M/A Basic School in Accra, was said to be active, smart and outspoken.
“Her teachers used to tell me my daughter was smart and she used to be a group leader when she was in school. Even though she had not been in school for some time, her teachers still added her name for a government scholarship,” Adwoba said.
“Loislyn was heavily bruised and she had a deep cut on her head which left her in coma for two months,” she said.
When asked what her favourite subject was, Loislyn, who now has difficulties with speech, said her favourite subject was Science and her favourite activities during Physical Education period were running and exercising.
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But for the help of the Accident Victim Support Ghana, Adwoba says life would have been very difficult after the accident.
“Because of my daughter’s condition I have stopped working. I am a trader, but now I stay home every day to watch over my daughter since she can barely move, and because of this, life has become very difficult. Through the help of the Accident Victims Support Ghana, we were able to get a wheelchair for her and they gave us some provisions,” she added.
Concern
Little Loislyn is one out of 1,115 pedestrians who were knocked down between January and May this year.
A total of 1,140 people also lost their lives through road accidents, while 6,620 others sustained varying degrees of injuries during the same period.
Although this year’s figures represented a marginal reduction in persons knocked down compared to last year’s which recorded 1,215, there is still concern over the number of precious lives that have been lost to road crashes and people who have lost their livelihoods through these road accidents.
Accident Victims Support
The Accident Victims Support is a social intervention programme aimed at raising funds to aid road crash victims.
Formally launched in October 2017, the organisation has over the years helped over 200 accident victims across the country.
The President of the Accident Victims Support, Rev. Cyril Crabbe, in an interview with the Daily Graphic said the main objectives of the organisation were to advocate road safety, defray the cost of medical expenses of accident victims, re-integrate victims back into society after admission and remit aged and under-age victims whose situation was worse financially.
“Since it was launched, we have donated to seven hospitals, five police stations and have helped discharge about eight victims.
We currently have about 160 victims who call on us for help,” he said.
Rev. Crabbe also stated that the organisation had representatives across the country who helped them get into contact with the accident victims.
“We are always on the lookout for accident victims. Once we hear of any accident, we immediately send a team to get into contact with them so we can offer any help possible,” he said.
Challenges
Since its inception, the Accident Victim Support has been having challenges with funding as it is mostly left with little or no support.
Rev. Crabbe explained that most of their donations and support to victims were self-funded, which made it difficult to provide for all victims.
“Sometimes people ask how we are able to help the victims since there is little or no support.
“We wish that some of these corporate bodies will join hands and help us as a corporate social responsibility because accidents can happen to anybody at all and people need help,” he said.
Safe to Safety campaign
To reduce the number of children being knocked down on roads, Rev. Crabbe stated that his outfit had launched a campaign dubbed the “Safe to Safety Child Road Safety Campaign”, a platform to educate drivers, children and school authorities on road safety.
“We noticed that children, especially schoolchildren, were knocked down mostly when school reopened, so with this campaign, we urge school authorities to get road furniture such as lollipop stands, zebra crossing and a traffic warden who will assist children in crossing the roads,” he explained.
He urged the Ghana Education Service (GES) to make it a mandatory policy for all schools to build speed humps on major roads that led to their school premises.
“We know there is no way we can totally do away with accidents, but my advice to drivers is to strictly adhere to all road safety rules so we can reduce the numbers. We are also teaching the schoolchildren to be careful when using the road and we know that with time and support, we will get there,” he added.
Writer’s E-mail: [email protected]. The writer is a National Service Person, Graphic Communications Group Ltd.