Some two months ago I was at the office of the Ashanti regional road safety boss Kwaku Oware Boateng. I was there to get accident figures for the half year and the accidents had risen by more than fifty percent compared to last year’s figures. Deaths had also increased by a whooping one hundred and two in the region. Two hundred and thirty four deaths were recorded in the first half of this year in the Ashanti region, compared to the one hundred and thirty two cases last year. This means that one hundred and two more people have died in the first half of this year than last year.
That is not all; statistics shows that the total number of accident cases reported within the first half of 2010 has increased from 803 to 1070 in the first half of 2011. Out of the 803 cases reported in the first half of 2010, 97 of them were fatal, 280 were serious while 426 cases were considered to be minor. However the 2011 figures of 1070 cases recorded 173 fatal cases while 345 were serious and 551 were regarded as minor. You can do the calculations.
I asked Kwaku Oware Boateng whether the number of accidents and deaths for the next half of the year could reduce and he said it was possible provided the drivers became a little cautious.
Within two months after my interview with the regional road safety boss, I have reported on three accidents in the region; two of them on the main Obuasi-Kumasi road both of which claimed five lives and the recent one at Yawkwei near Konongo on the main Kumasi-Accra highway which claimed twenty four lives. One of the buses, a Hyundai luxury bus belonging to OA Transport was driving from Accra to Techiman while the other bus a Neoplan bus was travelling from Kumasi to Accra. I was at the scene of the accident and I have never seen anything as gory as I saw on the morning of September 15. Human parts were scattered all over the place and the two buses had their fronts totally destroyed beyond recognition.
These three accidents reported within just two months are the ones I have personaly reported on and I am told the figures are much more than the three in the region. I am very sure the figures for the third quarter for this year will definitely be more than that of last year. So what at all is happening on our roads and what can be done to stop these carnages on our roads?
For me, I think it is about time we started banning some drivers from driving on our roads. I was told in one of the accidents that occurred on the Obuasi road that, the driver ignored warnings from both drivers and pedestrians about how he was speeding from the Santasi roundabout till he got involved in the accident. I am sure this is not the first time this driver had driven carelessly on the road. Many reports might have gone to station masters and union members about his over speeding but have been ignored. I spoke to some GPRTU officials who tell me that it is difficult to suspend careless drivers because they will either join another group or will start plying another route. So we ask the question, how do we ensure that drivers who have been banned remain banned and do not drive until such a time that they are allowed to drive?
May be we should copy the example from developed countries where licenses are seized and sometimes confiscated. I am sure when licenses are seized and confiscated these drivers will find it difficult to drive. However, it will not be successful if the police and officials from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) continue to take monies from these people either to let them go scot free or give them licenses when their licenses have been seized.
I am a regular and constant traveler on the Accra Kumasi road and I have always been against the erection of speed ramps on the roads. However, witnessing these three accidents and the casualties, I have revised my notes. When I spoke to ASP Augustine Mensah MTTU commander of the Konongo district Police, he noted that the stretch of road between Juaso and Konongo is accident prone and so when speed ramps are erected, they could solve the accident problem. Speed ramps should not only be erected at the Juaso Konongo road but also on the stretch between Santasi and Anwiankwanta on the main Kumasi Obuasi road.
I spoke to an MTTU officer who told me that most of these luxury buses over speed. To him the solution to their over speeding could be curbed when their speedometers are adjusted to between 75 to 90kmph. I agree with him. I remember I traveled from Kumasi to Accra only recently and it took us just four hours on the road in its current state. I lived very scary moments because the driver was just over speeding and when I tried complaining I was tagged as being “too known”. So now I take the Koforidua route when I am travelling to Accra.
I believe when these transport owners ask manufacturers to adjust the speedometers of these buses downwards no matter how hard these drivers try to over speed they will not be able to because of the automatic adjustments. Most STC and metro mass transit buses have these features and so we hear little about accidents involving these transport operators. It is high time operators of these luxury buses tried this feature to curb over speeding.
There have also been calls for spiritual solutions but I do not think any amount of prayer be it Islamic, Christian or traditional can stop accidents if our drivers continue to over speed and continue to be irresponsible. I believe there are other ways of solving this issue of accidents but certainly not education. Surprised? How many times have we not educated our drivers? I believe in education but for our Ghanaian drivers, action beyond and more severe than education. And to borrow my senior colleague Kwesi Pratt’s words, we must “crack the damn whip”.
