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The information report about 16 folks dying in a gory accident at Gomoa Okyereko on the Accra-Cape Coast freeway within the Central Area within the early hours of Tuesday, Might 30, 2023 gives clear alerts that Ghana seems distant from halting fatalities on its roads.
Studies have it that the accident occurred after a head-on collision between a petroleum tanker and a bus at about 5 am on Tuesday accusing the bus driver of sleep driving.
The bus was travelling from Abidjan to Buduburam whereas the tanker was crammed with petrol, travelling from Accra heading in the direction of Takoradi. This is only one of quite a few such accidents occurring on our roads day by day.
Investigations reveal that seven such deadly accidents have occurred on that exact stretch of the highway alone this 12 months most of them head-on collision.
Accidents and certainly avoidable accidents have gotten one too many on our roads. This 12 months alone, a complete of three,340 highway accidents instances have been recorded between January to March. A complete of 544 people have been killed in these highway accidents within the nation.
Over the week, one main difficulty that has been a topic for dialogue particularly within the media has been the alarming spate of highway accidents within the nation.
A lot as the problem is a lot worrying, what seems to be way more disturbing is the truth that accidents on our roads have grow to be perennial.
Many others consider that such motor accidents within the nation are fully avoidable if the nation units its priorities proper.
This argument is predicated on the truth that over 80 per cent of deadly accidents which have claimed lives happen on trunk roads that aren’t twin carriage, it might be within the rural or city space.
Head-on collisions on our roads are these which are deemed deadly and trigger excessive variety of deaths.
Head-on collision, which generally is known as frontal collision happens too typically on the trunk roads particularly throughout the darkish hours. Two autos travelling the other way collide into one another in some instances when making wrongful overtaking or when one driver is dozing off or in some instances sleeping. Others drive straight into broken-down autos.
In such instances the purpose of influence is on the straight line connecting the middle of gravity of every of the 2 autos leading to deaths of passengers. Sure instances different autos additionally get entangled as drivers of those autos have little or no management, if any, to keep away from hitting their autos into the already collided autos inflicting facet collision or rear-end collision.
“The probability of surviving a head-on collision. Analysis compiled by The Automotive Crash Detective has proven that the probability of fatalities in a head-on collision will increase at speeds above 55 kilometres per hour. That quantity comes from analysis associated to Imaginative and prescient Zero, a worldwide initiative devoted to lowering auto fatalities.”
In Ghana virtually all roads and highways that kind the trunk routes between main city centres are single carriage ones. These ones are the N Routes, they’re 18 in quantity throughout the nation. The Accra-Kumasi and the Accra-Takoradi roads, are the 2 main and busy highways within the nation.
Analysis findings point out that the best danger discount when it comes to head-on collision everywhere in the world, comes by way of the separation of oncoming site visitors. That is also called median separation or median therapy. This in accordance with consultants can cut back highway collisions within the order of 70 per cent.
A lot as that is comprehensible, one doesn’t have to undertake any research earlier than this conclusion. Most head-on collisions on our roads are merely avoidable if roads particularly trunk roads are dualised. Elsewhere, resembling Eire and Sweden there are giant programmes of security fencing on some trunk roads.
This isn’t the case in Ghana, as an illustration, the Accra-Kumasi highway, which is among the main and busy highways within the nation has only a portion of it dualised making it riskier to drive on. A lot as it’s agreeable that almost all accidents are humanly induced, such because the one which occurred final Tuesday, some deficiencies in highway engineering can’t be overlooked because the causes.
Some two years in the past Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo referred to as for an inter-ministerial motion to assist curb the menace, which now could be among the many main causes of loss of life within the nation.
The President’s order to his Ministers of Inside, Transport, Roads and Highways got here at a time when the citizenry appeared helpless as their treasured lives proceed to be within the unsafe arms of harmful, careless and in some instances senseless drivers a few of whom are alleged to be driving below the affect of medicine and alcohol.
One shouldn’t be too positive of what got here out of the interministerial motion and its impact, if any, in respect to security on our roads. It is because deadly accidents proceed to happen from time to time and in larger fatalities and numbers.
Satirically, over 75 per cent of those accidents, in accordance with the Nationwide Highway Security Fee (NRSC) of Ghana occurred on what it describes pretty much as good roads however all single carriage roads the place extreme collisions happen.
It stands to good reasoning that dangerous roads are usually not essentially the foremost contributing issue to motor accidents on roads within the nation.
One can cogently argue that over dashing is the foremost trigger as virtually, this can be very troublesome for motorists to hurry on ‘dangerous roads’ however the query nonetheless stays that’s head-on collision not way more deadly than the remainder of the accidents that happen on our roads?
Globally, some 1.3 million folks die on the highway yearly and as much as about 50 million endure accidents and Ghana by way of various means, most of them avoidable, sadly, has been contributing to those figures. Between 2016 and now, a complete of about 8,598 people have misplaced their lives to highway accidents, if measures are usually not made to assist halt the development who is aware of what number of will die this and the following years.
In 2020 as an illustration, alarming motor accident figures have been recorded. In that 12 months, it will likely be recalled {that a} deadly accident claimed tens of treasured souls. “Thirty-five folks, together with girls and kids, have been killed when two buses collided”. Studies had it that, over 30 souls have been burnt past recognition throughout the accident which occurred in a city close to Kintampo within the Bono East Area.
In early January, 34 folks died with many others injured in an accident that occurred at 12:15 am Tuesday, January 14, 2020, on the Cape Coast- Takoradi Freeway.
On the Asuboi stretch on the Accra-Kumasi, trunk highway alone the identical 12 months, about 4 accidents occurred all involving passenger-ferrying autos in head-on collisions.
We’d like our roads to be dualised and insurance policies to guard passengers in commercially operated passenger-ferrying buses, minibuses and vehicles as a result of these autos carry a better danger of being concerned in deadly crashes.
Extreme vehicular speeds, inappropriate use of products autos for passenger transport, extreme loading which frequently breakdown on the highway posing hazard of collision, and insufficient trauma care are the important thing contributory danger components to the excessive variety of highway site visitors fatalities.
“Concerted efforts spanning training, engineering, enforcement and trauma care are wanted to stem the rise in deadly crashes in Ghana”.
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