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Back to Nkawkaw Junction parking

Back to Nkawkaw Junction parking

A few weeks back, I drew attention to the looming danger at the Nkawkaw Junction dual carriageway on the Kumasi Accra Highway because of the recklessness of drivers who park at that place in the night and obstruct traffic flow. I particularly entreated the National Road Safety Commission and the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) to put in place appropriate safety measures there to safeguard life and property, especially the lives of hawkers who criss-cross the road at dawn to ply their trade.

 

I passed through the junction at dawn last Monday and was deeply troubled as instead of being remedied, the parking had become more diffused and confusing as big trucks, including articulated trucks and petrol tankers, meandered along both sides of the road. Some of the trucks were parked in the middle of the road such that moving vehicles had to find their way out of the maze. With the current weather which has compelled domestic airlines to halt travels, the roads are not spared the haze and it will not be far-fetched to predict a fatal accident on that portion of the road no matter how patient and tolerant the drivers are to the situation.

I am reiterating my concerns because human lives could be needlessly lost. A stitch in time saves nine. Prevention is equally better than cure. Therefore, I am once again appealing to the National Road Safety Commission and the GPRTU to carry out on the spot investigations, particularly at dawn and see for themselves the time bomb that is ticking, and which we are sitting on, waiting for it to explode. If it ever happens, I will not have been a prophet of doom but a soothsayer who was ignored by the very people he was sent out to warn and admonish to do something about a situation that stared at us but which we refused to see.

There are a myriad of issues I could have commented about this week, including the increases in tariffs for water and electricity at a time that crude oil has fallen below $40 a barrel. As our elders say, if the smith hammers a certain portion consistently hard, it only means that he wants to create a unique design. I am alarmed about the rate of reckless parking on that portion of the road. That is not the only place where big trucks and tankers park to rest along the Accra-Kumasi Highway, but something tells me it is ominous and that if nothing is done about the development, the year might not end before avoidable and needless blood is shed along that portion of the road and then officials of the Road Safety Commission and the GPRTU will troop there to commiserate with and console the families of those who would have lost dear ones and then we shed crocodile tears.

Prof. Wole Soyinka has a canny way of describing those who do not act to prevent dysfunctional developments and seek to address lapses after losses have occurred. He puts it succinctly that, “post-mortem is for quacks and chroniclers who fail at divination.”

In the meantime, personnel of the Motor Traffic and Transport Department of the Ghana Police Service can take the initiative to stem the tide. After all, whenever an accident occurs, the police are the first to be called to gather evidence to establish the cause. The evidence is more than glaring and it does not need any seer to tell us that if we fail to act, we would be overtaken by events, only that it would have been  needless, avoidable useless statistics but costly and may mark the turning point for many who would never recover from the shock and loss they might have experienced because even as the few deviant drivers demonstrated a propensity to bestialise, the rest of us sat idly by and indirectly encouraged mayhem to be committed in the name of rest.

 We should not wait to witness an accident at the Nkawkaw Junction before we put in remedial measures. We have to act now to stem the tide and avert any fatality. Christmas is around the corner and we have to intensify road safety education to protect and save lives.

If the authorities need any evidence to act, the testimony of one of the drivers of Graphic, Gabriel Afoakwa, is instructive. Urging me to write about the problem once more, he noted, “sometimes they park so recklessly that it is impossible to branch towards Nkawkaw township. Three days ago, I got down and engaged one driver before I was able to pass through.’’  

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