ACCIDENT ALARM! CIRCLE-SHALOM STRETCH.

There is dark cloud hanging the necks of commuters plying the road from Circle to Shalom-Shalom in Korle-gonno; a suburb of Accra. The approximately 10km journey between this distance can be described as one of the deadliest. For one to patronize those 1970-80 outmoded Benz long buses means “suicide”. This I would say, mincing no words.

Permit my words; drivers working within this span display a high-sense of “stupidity”, “buffoonery” and “heartlessness” and I have no regrets saying this. I don’t know whether to describe them as the mere “descendants of the enemy of destruction”. But for all I have known, they only collect fares, load their “dirty-rusty-old-fashioned” buses and set off. They have no sense of responsibility; all they care is to stop at any point they find a passenger without minding how close the next car is.

What hits more into the wound is when they play “tsatsa” with the lives of innocent commuters. These “mad” drivers play the “death racing” game of over-taking each other. The drivers sit so stern to the stirring; ignoring the fact that they are conveying humans and not crops. You would see their conductors, popularly referred as “mates” show off their “multi-coloured” teeth long as “tin-cutters” and laugh as they look on how their masters (drivers) over-take the others.

Entering the vehicle is the most important thing; how you find a sit to perch becomes your own struggle. Though it’s breathtaking; I personally keep it close because I’m a young energetic man who can sit easily. Shockingly, they don’t spare the aged this wickedness. The oldies would be seen hitting themselves against the seats and persons in the vehicle struggling to clutch to a seat.

Sometimes hitting you briskly into pot-hole and skipping sharp rumps without mercy. When passengers begin to lament, they give no ears, instead sit behind the stirring with their big heads as “dummies”. When the screaming is getting out of hand, they reply with insults and threats.

The situation is getting out of hand and if authorities fail to act, government would not cease loosing resources and wasting gargantuan amounts on accident victims. Meanwhile, a statement from the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) has proven that, statistically; four people die every day as a result of road crash. Estimates also show that; Ghana loses over 230 million dollars yearly due to road accidents with more than 1,600 deaths. The loss correlates to 1.7% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product.

Further information gathered by the same commission has revealed that; in 2010 out of all persons affected, occupants of vehicles came first. This is clear indication that; most accidents are occurring as a result of negligence and careless driving. The result is as follows: Fatalities of pedestrians – 43%, Occupants of vehicles – 53% and Children below 16 years consisted 23%. 

The report concluded that; 60% of the total road accidents were caused by speeding. 

 I am hereby calling on the Ministry responsible for Roads and Transport, the National Road Safety Commission, the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit of the Police Service, the Ghana Armed Forces, the Ghana National Association of Garages, registered motor vehicle and manufacturing companies, private road transport providers, the National Insurance Commission, registered driver training schools, and all other sundries to use all efforts to counteract this diabolic canker.

Aluta continua………………………………………………….