kamdeen

The Cause of the Frequent Road Accident on Our Roads, Its Problems and Solutions.

It has become too much a bad incidence to accept and what beats my mind is the lack of interest by all stakeholders to help curb this problem. Why should we have such a very high rate of road accidents and it's like nobody, no organization or authority is interested to bring help to this unacceptable incidence in this country to a very low rate?

My heart always bleeds whenever I hear of some road accidents in this country. Very few or very well meaningful people have tried in their little way to help curb this social canker( problems) by contributing in various ways, by writing articles and making very cogent suggestions but it seems the more individuals suggest best ways to curb road accidents in a country, the greater the level of road accidents increase.

Most TV stations be with the government Stations or Private TV Stations have all done well and are still doing very well by showing fresh road accidents scenes on their screens but I do not know whether the authorities in charge bother at all when they see these menace pictures of road accidents. For me they are absolutely doing very little to curb road accidents. All authorities in checking and controlling road accidents in country, please, do something you never done before to forestall this canker forever. Why, don't the big men and women in charge of these organizations ever had their relatives involved in road accidents before? Why are you not taking very strict and cogent measures to bring road accidents of a country to a very low level?

The problems associated with road accidents mostly happen as result of: Recklessness and carelessness by drivers; not respecting road safety regulations, jumping the red light, wrong overtaking especially on the highways, and in even the cities of that particular country. Bigger truck drivers mostly do not give a dime whenever other road users need to access their fair share of the road they have also contributed in building. Lack of regular maintenance of the buses and local public buses because most of these public buses, excuse me to say, are not even fit to be used to carry food stuffs, let alone human beings but they are being used each day to convey passengers from one end to another with impunity freely.

Another causal for this problem is speeding without workable speedometers. Most of the vehicles do have workable speedometers but when they get unto the road, they speed and speed without knowing what kilometers per hour the bus or vehicle is being travelled and the sign showing how much speed level a drive has to go within that distance of travel. What will be the result of what?

OVERLOADING .It has become normal and acceptable that buses that should take the exact number of passengers but drivers flaw to this law. If they do not overload at the station then they will pick up passengers on the way and put the money into their pockets, yet when the vehicles breaks down, it is the bus owner who does the maintenance.. You see they seek for only their self interest.

POTHOLES. There are lot potholes on our roads that need maintenance but have been left to become death traps. Shoddy works by many contractors are the causes of these potholes, but still these potholes should be patched up professionally when they are noticed.

BAD POLICE OFFICERS: Yes, the work of the police is very key to the development of every nation and Ghana is no exception.

We have police officers on the roads daily to perform their duties dutifully and many are doing their best, however, there are some police officers who do not care whether, the driver has a valid license, the vehicle is overloaded, the driver is tipsy, the driver obeys other road safety regulations. Only God becomes both our spiritual and physical police in these circumstances.

The consequences of road accidents are anti-developmental, and many other negative problems.

Orphans are left with nobody to cater for them; there is an increase in number of dependants on families and the government. Heath workers at accidents units at the various hospitals across, the country are over overstretched and exhausted. The biggest of all is the lost of the country's energetic human resource through reckless road accidents. Funds that could have been channeled through developmental issues are diverted to cater for avoidable accident victims. Pain and grieve endured for ages by people whose relatives, friends or colleague human beings have been lost through road accidents. We know the effects very well. Very bad tastes to have a family member involved in such incident

The Driver licensing Authority, DVLA: DVLA should have two different colors of license for commercial and private drivers. Commercial should be able to use the one used by private drivers but private cannot use the commercial driving license. Offenders should be fined. We should all make it priority to help reduce road accidents to a very low level and be able to sustain it.

THE WAY FORWARD: There need to be new organization that should be legalized solely for road safety.

I would suggest a name like ROAD SAFETY AUTHORITY (RSA)… This new public organization will be in charge of the following among other things:
Towing of accident vehicles from the various roads nationwide.
Make sure no vehicle with passengers on board should buy fuel at a filling station. Drivers travelling long journeys who want to top up their tanks should park somewhere for passengers to get down before they get fuel at the nearby filling station, they can then continue their journey.
The authority should have the legal backing to arrest recalcitrant drivers and arraign them before court. The police should leave this duty to this authority. It should be the sole responsibility of the authority to arrest ONLY drivers who violate road safety regulations.
The placing of officers on the roads and at Public bus stations to check overloading, wrong overtaking and high speed. The law should be made in such a way that officers should be changed every month from the particular station or road he or she was the previous month.
Erect and maintain clear road signs on the various highways and urban roads in the country.
Acquire ambulances for accident spots identified nationwide. Leaders of this authority to appeal to drivers and other road users from time to time to remind them of the need to maintain road safety orders and to drive accident free.
Employees should be people who would have volunteered to help curb road accidents in Ghana. This is a sacrificial job and people who want money more than the lives of their colleague human beings cannot work here.
All in all, I think with the problems and solutions stated above when checked out very well it can minimize the road accidents on our roads. My heart always bleeds whenever I hear of some road accidents anywhere in the country. Let's make our country an accident free country.