"Road Safety is no accident. It happens through the deliberate efforts of many individuals and many sectors of society. Everyone has a role to play, especially health care providers, automobile associations, educators, victims of road traffic crashes and the media among other sectors of our national life"

When we go to sleep we expect or are sure to wake up the following morning to go about normal activities; while this is true with most people, the same can’t be said of when we sit in a vehicle to embark on a journey. Ahead of us lies a journey that could see us join our ancestors prematurely or a journey that could see us maimed for life. To sum it up, it’s an uncertain journey. Such is the nature of road transport in Ghana. Nevertheless we all continue to use it exposing us to all sort of danger.

Statistics available indicates that 16,146 motor accidents were recorded in the year 2007 out of which 2,043 people met their untimely death. Through these accidents, 6,287 people got seriously injured and also 8,087 people were slightly injured. The import of this indicates that the probability of escaping an accident unscathed is very slim; that is to say either you die, or get seriously injured or lucky in this situation to escape with a minor injury. These figures indicate that our roads are far from being safe posing a threat to everyone in the country. Statistics for 2006 were not any better; that is to say many lives evaporate into thin air on our roads. Also frightening is the fact that the majority of fatalities are pedestrians (not passengers). This current situation has not seen any major improvement since the past decade whilst that of the first half of 2009 can’t be any better due to the frightening number of accidents already recorded.

When we talk about increasing accidents on our roads we begin to wonder the roles of the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU), Drivers and Vehicle License Authority (DVLA) and sometimes the Ministry of Road and Transport. Of course these are major stakeholders whose duty also includes somewhat making our roads not only motorable but also vehicles plying our roads are safe just like the road itself. What we always forget as Ghanaians is the role the individual has to play in making our roads safe. We should not lose sight of the fact that proportionally these major stakeholders form a small fraction of the whole population thereby making individual a major partner to these stakeholders in the fight against road accidents.

It has been revealed on countless occasions that most of the accidents on our roads were committed as a result of human errors or individual negligence. Such acts are often ignored because they are seen as not important or trivial; for example like wearing of seat belts, driver talking on phone, tuning radio station, absence of accident triangle and others. If dead men can only talk, then you would have heard gruesome stories of how these things we deem as little have sent souls into their grave prematurely. Motor accidents statistics have also revealed that most of the vehicles involved motor-accidents are commercial vehicles. More serious is the fact that 70-80% of people who travel on our roads use commercial vehicles making us to wonder whether we are really safe in the face of this danger which is threatening our very existence.

Aside the so-called trivial human errors or negligence which costs lives on our roads daily is the grave ignorance of basic principles in road safety by drivers. These mostly encompass wrong overtaking, over speeding, drink driving among others. Just like the trivial human errors, results from these acts are often grave and deadly.

Despite all these human-induced motor accidents, the major stakeholders in road safety like the MTTU, DVLA and NRSC can also not be totally exonerated. We have had situations whereby vehicles which are not supposed to be on the roads engage in accidents. This has occurred several times. More unpardonable is the registration of rickety cars which have already seen better days to ply our roads posing health concern to the general public. A vehicle I once journey on was so old and noisy but rather surprising it had a road worthiness stamp embossed on it. At such circumstances you begin to wonder whether the stamp was just sold or a thorough evaluation of the vehicle was done. These are the very things which are costing lives and we are toying with them as if no one’s business. These same rickety vehicles pass mounted check points without anyone questioning their presence on our roads.

Although MTTU, DVLA and NRSC might be doing their utmost best to ensure our roads are safe, the continuous occurrence of motor accidents should let them know there is more room for improvement. They should lift up their game and match what pertains in countries where these occurrences are few.

So assuming all these stakeholders work together and motor accidents are reduced considerably, in the wake of highway robberies can it be concluded that are road are still safe? No. This further compounds the work of the stakeholders and agencies working to ensure road safety. In a space of two weeks over 15 highway armed robbers have been killed in a shootout with the police in two separate incidents. Of course there have been numerous highway robberies which have gone unnoticed. This situation has led to loss of lives and valuables among others. While we are fighting for an accident-free road, we should also work toward making highway robberies a thing of the past.

To sum up, road accidents are not far from you as you may think. Remember the last time, probably it was your father, mother, sister, brother, a friend or someone special whose life was cut short by a very gruesome motor accident. It could have happen to you. The next time you sit in a vehicle, say a word of prayer because you’ll never know it might be a miracle.


Credit: Richard Nii Abbey
Ghana Institute Of Journalism
Accra

abbeykwei@gmail.com