Dozens perish in Zambia as bus crushes into truck, 7th February 2013 |
“Germs don’t kill Africans; only
cars do” -Anonymous. If road crashes kill more people in Ghana than communicable
diseases, isn't that a serious problem?
Quite often, when one bursts upon
an accident scene anywhere in Africa, many are quick to push the blame on all
manner of possible causes: some passengers often blame the poor drivers for
over speeding and doing wrong overtaking, the drivers often cite the poor road
networks as the major factor while government official tend to put the blame on
the poor pedestrians for not being careful on the streets. In fact there are
many occasions where the blame is even shifted on some evil spirits elsewhere
especially during the Christmas and Easter periods. Therefore most accidents
which normally occur at Christ are often considered to be “the works of the devil”.
The bottom line is that our people have always found somebody somewhere upon
who the blame should be shifted at the end of the day.
Technically speaking, human
errors, vehicle breakdowns, non-road worthy vehicles, poor road conditions and environmental
factors like poor weather can be said to be the major causes of accidents
everywhere in the world. The good news however is that, ALL THESE ERRORS CAN BE
PREVENTED IF the authority in charge are serious on the need to combat road
accidents.
Unfortunately the blame game has
not helped us in any way since no effort is made to address the problem itself
at the end of the day. Because of this, effort has been made to identify some
of the major reasons why there are currently too many accidents on our roads.
In fact, some of my findings are quite disturbing and I hope the appropriate
authority will act as soon as possible to help save lives. It is becoming increasingly clear that many of these drivers
often use hand-held mobile phones while driving. Thus, their
concentration often goes onto the text massages they receive or send
instead of paying attention on the road.
Some Shocking Statistics on Road Accidents:
Ghana: the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) announced that
there were 19 fatalities per 10,000 vehicles in 2010. The statistics showed
that 43% of the fatalities involved pedestrians and 53% involved occupants of
vehicles. Shockingly 23% of all pedestrian fatalities involved children
below the age of 16 years. In 2011, there were 2,330 road accidents
bringing it to an average of 7 accidents per day across the country. In 2012,
by November ending, 13,535 crashes have been recorded resulting over 2,069
deaths in Ghana. In December 2012 alone, 246 people died and 1,260 were
injured in car accidents. According to the Commission, the major cause of road accidents in Ghana
is due to over speeding. This accounts for 60% of car crashes in the
country. When we the road users take our indiscipline to the roads, what do we
expect in return?
An average
of 1.7% of Ghana’s GDP (US$230 million) is lost every year to road accidents. But how many
people have to die every year before the road authority addresses this problem
once and for all?
Zambia: The Road Transport and Safety Agency suggests that, in
economic terms the cost of road accidents to the Zambian economy is estimated
at about 3% of the GDP (K2.4 trillion), an amount which translates into several
hundred millions of dollars. In 2005, some 44 students were killed on a bus
going on holiday from the northern Luapula province to Lusaka. According to official statistics, at least 1,200
people are killed in traffic accidents every year in Zambia with several tens
of thousands wounded within the same period. In the last half of 2011 alone, some
968 people were killed in road traffic accidents in Zambia, with 2,826 people
seriously injured while some 3,033 were slightly injured during the same
period. More alarming figures can be recorded from Nigeria, Kenya, and many
countries across the African continent.
So I asked myself: What are the Road
Safety Commissions actually doing here in Africa? Every year, our varios
authorities come out with more alarming figures, yet nothing is done about it.
It is always business as usual. Oh Africa!
What Causes All These Accidents?
BAD ROADS. NON VISIBLE ROAD markings.
No road safety signs. No speed limits. Bad motorists who are never fined for
breaching road safety measures on regular basis. Of course this happens because
they have the police in their pockets. On our highways, motorists park their
cars anywhere and idle about, especially in the cities. Policemen and women are
increasingly accepting BRIBES and deliberately allowing traffic offenders to
have a field day. Many of the drivers actually get drunk and find themselves driving
at the same time! Some even have the notion that they cannot drive without
taking alcohol. What a society!
Zambia's worst accident scene |
Zindaba Soko, executive director
of the Road Transport Safety Agency of Zambia (RTSA) had expressed the follow
shock: “The accident that happened this morning, it is indeed a very sad day to
lose so many lives. It is saddening that this was basically caused by human
error because of unnecessary speeding and overtaking. I think that is
very unacceptable,” Soko said.
While some in government would
want to blame the cause of accident on the drivers, I believe much of the
problem has to do with the laxity of implementing road regulations. Of course
corruption is also another key contributor to this problem.
When one goes to the DVLA in
Ghana and Nigeria for instance, there are too many “middlemen” you will have to
“see” before you can acquire a driver’s license. You can even BUY a Ghanaian/Nigerian driving license without going to any driving school at all. Many of the drivers
actually learn driving while serving as drivers’ mates, without taking a single
lesson from government-approved driving schools. What a country!
The police on the other hand have
been receiving BRIBES and perverting justice on our roads. Usually there is NO
prosecution on Ghana roads if particular drivers are at fault. This is because
some of the drivers have got our police commanders in their pockets and will
never be prosecuted. All because of BRIBE, bribe and many more bribe. So are we
not ashamed of publishing these road accident figures every year without a
clear cut commitment to address the problem?
Motor cyclists in Ghana never wear helmet |
Sometimes I wonder whether many
of these drivers who ply our roads have been taken through the rudiments of basic
safety driving. MANY MOTORISTS DONT EVEN HAVE CAR INSURANCE yet nobody cares. Our
leaders are also VERY LAZY. They refuse to put in place the necessary measures
that will check the traffic offenders. This is why such accidents continue to
occur on a daily basis and in such large numbers. In the night, many of our roads
including the so-called motorways have no street lights. Some of the pot-holes on these ‘motorways’ are so big, they could
pass for manholes.
What does this tell us? Does it
mean unscrupulous drivers are at liberty to drive at any dangerous speed they
choose. What happens to those drivers who might not be familiar with the road? As
for the zebra crossings, the drivers have no regards for their use at all.
Poor school girl knocked down by a reckless driver in Accra |
Poor old man struggles to cross the George Bush Highway |
The Way Forward:
Road traffic accidents could be
drastically reduced if a more effective awareness campaigns were mounted
countrywide. This is where the media especially the TV stations could play a
vital role. Some of other measures that could be taken included are as follows:
Adequate warning signs and
speed limits must be provided on all roads to warn drivers. This will help
prevent all accidents often caused by overspending.
·
The road authority must introduce a safety and maintenance
manual which will require drivers to regularly check their vehicles. Such
checks must require the drivers to produce the maintenance certificates issued
by approved authority in charge of the inspection.
· Anybody found using a mobile phone whiles driving must be given a severe prison sentence.
The highways must be properly designed to factor in the needs of all road users such as children, the elderly and people with disability. It is time to include safe passage such as subways bicycle lanes and enough footbridges provided at reasonable intervals for pedestrian to safely cross the highways.
The highways must be properly designed to factor in the needs of all road users such as children, the elderly and people with disability. It is time to include safe passage such as subways bicycle lanes and enough footbridges provided at reasonable intervals for pedestrian to safely cross the highways.
·
Drivers must be educated on the significance of
the various zebra crossings such that they do not abuse the right of
pedestrians to a safe passage.
·
The police must be adequately resourced and
well-motivated to deal with traffic offenders. This will help bring the bribery
and corruption cases which promote drivers’ indiscipline on the roads.
·
The road authority must random sample a couple
of drivers plying the roads to find out their level of knowledge to the Highway
Code and the road safety regulations. This can help determine whether such
drivers truly acquired their license through the proper channels.
·
All motor cyclists spotted on the roads without
crack helmet must have their motorbikes impounded and be made to pay a heavy
fines. Failure to do so must attract serious prison sentences. Cyclists must
also be forced to wear high visibility jackets and helmets before riding on the
roads.
·
The Road authority must institute a maintenance
policy where all major roads will be checked weekly to ensure that all damages
are quickly identified and repaired; all missing/obscured road signs must be
replaced to ensure the safety of road users, especially the drivers. All
vehicles that are not found to be road-worthy must not be allowed to ply the
roads.
·
Discipline on the road must form a key aspect of
driving lessons and tests. Drivers must adequately be taken through the
rudiments of safe driving paying attention on the need to avoid accident
irrespective of which user was at fault. Quite often, many of the drivers use
the horn unnecessarily and this in a way scares off some road users such as
cyclist, motor riders and even pedestrians. Some cyclist may lose concentration
and feel intimidated resulting in unexpected crush.
·
All vehicles must have safety triangles, fire
extinguisher and appropriate safety tools that could be used to warn other road
users where a vehicle breaks down along the roads.
·
Government must find a way to deal with the
level of corruption at the DVLA which often makes it possible for some people
to acquire driver’s license even without going through the proper channel. This
means, the act of selling driver’s license to merely those who can afford to
pay must end at the various DVLA centers across the African continent.
·
Any driver found to be drunk-driving must be
given severe prison sentence.
It is hoped that these and many other measures
shall be taken in order to help bring the accidents on our roads to the barest
minimum.
Long live Africa.
Honourable Saka
The writer is a Pan-African analyst and the founder of the Project Pan-Africa (PPA), an organization that was established to unlock the minds of the African youth to take Africa’s destiny into their hands. The PPA seeks to provide the biggest platform that will give international exposure to all hidden but exceptional talents in Africa. Please visit us at: www.projectpanafrica.org and support the project. PPA is grateful to ITech Plus, ZBC News GhanaWeb, ModernGhana and all our partners that support our vision for Africa. Email me at: honourablesaka@yahoo.co.uk
The writer is a Pan-African analyst and the founder of the Project Pan-Africa (PPA), an organization that was established to unlock the minds of the African youth to take Africa’s destiny into their hands. The PPA seeks to provide the biggest platform that will give international exposure to all hidden but exceptional talents in Africa. Please visit us at: www.projectpanafrica.org and support the project. PPA is grateful to ITech Plus, ZBC News GhanaWeb, ModernGhana and all our partners that support our vision for Africa. Email me at: honourablesaka@yahoo.co.uk
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