Passengers including men and women are people who board vehicles to different destinations at a required fee or through the purchase of a ticket. Most of these passengers either go for long distance or short distance vehicles depending on their destinations.
Passengers in taxis, trotro or big buses decide to board such vehicles with different purposes which may include either reaching their destination at the fastest pace, save petrol or gas especially those who have their personal cars or to mingle or socialize with other people when they engage in any conversation.
Passengers ought to take their destinies into their own hands and exercise a watchdog role on drivers to safeguard their lives against accidents or any illegal activities from the driver’s side.
Passengers can protect their lives as well as the driver's life by playing roles like cautioning the driver when he engages in any risky driving behaviour like driving too close to a car in front or overtaking another car, stopping the driver from driving when drunk or stressed out, preventing the driver from talking on phone while driving and reporting to the driver when any fault occurs to the car while on road.
Unlike in the past where there was no television in various vehicles and passengers were required to engage in conversation with their drivers when on long journey to keep him active, most passengers today enjoy watching movies or watch music videos in vehicles to enjoy their journey.
My recent observation revealed that the cordial relationship that should exist between drivers and passengers is in its bad state; hence, passengers have in mind that there are no laws to protect their lives.
The most disturbing factor is how drivers and vehicle owners treat passengers: they do not see the passenger as a human being that should be treated with respect; they insult passengers and sometimes drag them off the vehicles anytime they try to defend their rights.
The rights of passengers have not been adequately addressed by relevant stakeholders in the transport sector and there are no adequate laws that have been assigned to protect the lives of passengers.
Drivers, on the other hand, have also forgotten that the passenger is a key stakeholder in the transport industry and in ensuring road safety. Without, the passenger, there is no travel.
As a result of the bad conduct of some drivers, passengers have decided to also keep mute to any bad attitude that goes on while on road and this can increase the rate of accidents in the country.
This comes down to my question again that “Are there laws protecting the passengers?" And if there are such laws in this country, are passengers aware?
In my candid opinion, if indeed there are laws protecting the lives of passengers in the country, stakeholders and organizations involved must publicly announce and interpret to people in order to motivate them bring out issues while in a public vehicle.
Though there are several laws and regulations governing the transport sector in Ghana, passengers will continue to face several problems if there are no regulations protecting them.
In addition, the Ministry of Transport (MoT) must introduce different rules and regulations that will also ensure sanity on the road concerning the relationship between drivers, conductors known generally as “mates” and passengers.
