The first major cause of road accidents in Ghana is
1.Poor driving skills.
2.Gross indiscipline is the cause in most cases amongst Ghanaians.
3.Over age/Broken down vehicles on our roads. It appears in Ghana there is a leeway for drivers to drive on worn/second hand tyres.
4.Bad road network
COMMON TYPES OF AUTO ACCIDENTS.
1.Vehicle Rollover: These particular types of crashes are complex and violent in nature.
2.Single Car Accident: This is a type of road traffic accident in which only one vehicle is involved.
3.Rear-end Collision:
4.Side-impact Collision:
5.Head-on Collision:
ROAD ACCIDENTS IN GHANA
♦ An average of six (6) people die in road accidents everyday in Ghana, the Motor Transport and Traffic Directorate (MTTD) of the Ghana Police service has revealed.
♦ The Head of Education, Research and Training at the MTTD, DSP Mr Alexander Obeng who announced this on the Morning Xpress on Radio XYZ 93.1MHZ Monday attributed the situation to the irresponsible driving displayed by both private and commercial drivers on the country’s highways.
♦ According to DSP Obeng, statistics from their outfit show an average of 59 people get injured nationwide through road accidents everyday since the beginning of 2018.
♦ His assertions come after the death of about twenty-seven (27) passengers through three (3) separate road accidents during last weekend.
“We can’t have any prevention than what research has shown in Ghana that if 100 crashes occur, about 52 are as a result of excessive speeding and out of this too, you realise that about 70% is as a result of unlawful overtaking,” he told Neil-Armstrong Mortagbe, host of the Morning Xpress.
He continued: “If 592 Ghanaians have been killed within three months from 1st January to 31st March this year, and over 3,300 have been injured, then obviously if history is anything to go by, it must be more.”
To him, if drivers use highways with caution and avoid excessive speeding and overtaking, the alarming numbers could reduce and roads will be safer for Ghanaians.
Drivers To Blame For Crashes
DSP Obeng also bemoaned the spate of road carnage that keep killing and injuring thousands annually.
He stated that besides the enforcement of road regulations, there are some basic responsibilities that need to be addressed to reduce the the number of crashes on the country’s highways.
He mentioned the refusal of drivers to regularly maintain their vehicles, the rush to reach destinations to maximize sales through “excessive speeding [and] unlawful overtaking” as the basic known causes of motor accidents.
“…And we ask ourselves is it that they are not aware? Is it that when we admonish them they are intolerant?” he quizzed while lamenting the neglect of safety precautions on the part of commercial drivers.
He however reiterated the MTTD’s commitment to educate drivers and continue to punish lawbreakers to deter others.
Incidents
A total of twenty seven (27) died from three separate accidents between Saturday and Sunday last weekend.
Two of the crashes which happened in the Northern region claimed twenty (20) lives. The first one happened on Saturday, April 14 at Savelugu in Tamale. Two persons who were on a tricycle loaded with firewood from Diara were crashed by a cargo truck which was also loaded with lumber from Savelugu heading to Diara.
According to the Northern Regional Police Public Relations Officer (PRO) Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Mohammed Yusif Tanko, preliminary investigations revealed that the rope tying the firewood on the tricycle also known as motor king got torn “and the rider lost his balance and rode into the lane of the oncoming cargo truck.”
One person on the tricycle, according to police, was smashed beyond recognition on the spot hence a medical officer performed the autopsy on the spot. The other on the tricycle also died later at the Tamale Teaching Hospital.
On Sunday dawn at about 1:42AM, another head-on collision involving two buses killed 18 passengers at the Yapei-Yipala highway near Buipe in the Northern region.
On Sunday afternoon, the third accident which happened on the Tarkwa-Bogoso highway in the Western region killed five (5) on the spot while two others died while receiving treatment.
SOME WAYS TO AVOID ROAD ACCIDENTS
1.Concentration/Keep your eyes on the road When you are driving, you should be doing just that and nothing else. ...
2.Never use your cell phone.Don't change CD's.
3.Never, ever drink and drive.
4.Avoid construction/Heaped areas..Follow speed limits.
5.Follow the rules of the road. ...Ignore aggressive drivers.
OUR RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE ROAD MINISTRY
We have over 35 toll booths in Ghana.
According to report, Road toll in Ghana is the second highest contributor to the consolidated Fund, after Fuel levies.
1.Govt must automate toll booth because only 4 out of the 35 toll booths in Ghana are automated, so inflows from the road tolls are low and as a result monies for road contractors always delay.
The government of Ghana will ensure that all 35 toll booths in the country are automated to ensure revenues are properly accounted for, Kwesi Amoako-Attah, Minister-designate for Roads and Highways, has said.
Speaking during his vetting by the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Wednesday February 1, he said: “We will improve on the feeder road aspects of our total road network and that will mean taking seriously the process of using the Road Fund, which is set up for routine and periodic maintenance.
“If we use that fund properly, we will be able to put a lot of these feeder roads into good shape, obviously for economic development and to promote [trade] by bringing foodstuffs and other cash crops that are locked in the hinterlands.
“It is important that we sharpen our competence in road toll collection because road tolls are the second highest contributor to the Road Fund.
2. Authority must utilised Road Funds properly. Because Painstaking investigations conducted by Today newspaper has revealed that the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) makes a whopping GH₵48,000 daily at the toll booths on the Accra-Tema Motorway but persistently fail to rehabilitate the deplorable nature of the motorway.
Today News discovered that each toll booth on the Motorway rakes in GH₵3,000 a day.
And by simple calculation the 12 toll booths on the Tema-Motorway & Ashaiman-Accra road makes 36,000.00 a day.
Ayekoo
ReplyDelete