How vehicle-worthy are our roads?
One of the statutory requirements of every motorist is to acquire a roadworthy certificate issued by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA).
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This is a measure to ensure that vehicles that ply the country's roads are in good condition that would guarantee the safety of all, including drivers, passengers and other road users.
This certificate is, therefore, only issued by the DVLA after a thorough examination of the vehicle and other accessories which include spare tyres and reflective warning triangles. Whether officials of the DVLA or its agents do a diligent job in this regard is another matter.
A small fee is charged to cover administrative cost and also as a source of revenue for road maintenance. It is assumed that once a vehicle has been declared roadworthy, it will be privileged to move on a smooth, solid road.
The big question is, are our roads in the shape that would offer motorists equal measure of service?
The politician who is in government will provide figures both in monetary terms and in mileage to make a case that our roads are in the best of shape. However, the mud and dust on our vehicles, coupled with worn-out tyres, weak shock absorbers and the creaky noises will leave you in no doubt that most of our roads are not worthy of our vehicles.
The bitter truth is that majority of us Ghanaians cannot afford new vehicles. We all rely on second-hand vehicles, alias ‘home use’, brought from outside.
Incidentally, most of these vehicles come in near-perfect conditions even after long years of use, obviously because of good maintenance regime and more importantly, the good road network in their countries of origin.
The same cannot be said of our roads, most of which have become death traps.
The recent rains have seriously exposed the badly designed and poorly constructed nature of our major roads.
Most roads in Accra, the national capital, became unusable because of the craters and ponds on them and motorists had to look out for the good portions, sometimes at the risk of head-on collision.
There is a particular stretch of road whose condition defies description. I am referring to the road from Nungua through to Klagon, which borders Ashaiman. Apart from the severe inconvenience motorists suffer, especially on rainy days, the road cannot speak well of our national capital, which our president wants to turn into another Dubai.
Maybe I focused on this road because I use it on daily basis. That does not mean that things are better in other parts of the capital city. The situation is also not better in other parts of the country.
We need to work seriously on our roads if we are to attract the needed investment that we so much yearn for. It is a very painful fact that some of the tollbooths are situated on the worst part of the roads. The Afienya tollbooth is a good example.
If we are to improve local trade, internal tourism and attract the much-needed foreign investment, we must tackle our road networks. For now, we are in serious deficit.
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