Ghanaian Facebook group uses innovation to teach road signs
A facebook group, Trotro Diaries, is using an innovative means of engaging its members to learn road signs.
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Each day, the administrator of the more than 20,000 people group posts a road sign and members are asked to identify it for a reward.
The response is interesting, with participants giving spot on answers to sometimes funny ones as well.
Good and funny responses
For instance, while most people got the “No overtaking” sign correct, others gave comical explanations, including, “Red cars can overtake black cars only”, “Passing prohibited”, “ No double parking”, “You can only overtake if you have heated your engine but strictly 4WD cars only”, “Black and red cars only”, “Dual carriage road”, and “Entry for black and red cars only.”
In a country in which road sign education is concentrated mostly on drivers, the group’s administrator, Mr Yaw Odoom, said the exercise supported by Chop Chow, a Ghanaian start-up, was meant to empower passengers.
“Road signs are very essential tools to inform what happens on our roads and as such it is very important for people to know and understand them.”
“Very often, road sign education is targeted at drivers. However, we believe that if other road users such as passengers and pedestrians understand these signs it would help improve road usage and avoid some accidents. An example would be if a passenger understands a ‘No Stopping’ sign, he would not try to force a driver to stop at a place with such a road sign.”
“So we teamed up with Chop Chow to teach our 20,000 plus members how to be effective road users by understanding these signs.”
Road accident causes
The spate of road accidents in Ghana can be attributed to many factors including drink driving, speeding, negligence of checking the vehicle situation before taking off, ignorance of road instructions or road signs.
The National Road Safety Commission and the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) records show that most accidents occurred between the hours of 6.00 p.m. and 10.00 p.m. This is due to lack of check on motorists by road regulators.
Experts also believe that inexperienced motorists make use of vehicles at night. Ignorant of the meaning of road signs, such drivers end up misusing and disregarding the signs to the neglect of pedestrians.
Mr Odoom said the plan was for the group to collaborate with the NRSC to ensure that the campaign was structured and effective.
He described the response as amazing.