Road accidents: A carnage to behold

He picked phone, called the father from another region, informed his younger siblings to stay home and not to engage in what society abhors; finally bid his mother farewell and sat on his motor bike to buy foodstuff for the family only never to return to life.

That is the tragic story of a brother and our breadwinner who was crushed down by a speeding GV registered Land Cruiser at Otwereso, near Akim Oda in the Eastern Region. He lost his life through motor accident on the crucifixion day (Good Friday) ?That bloody Friday. He did not even whisper a cry.

Who is watching?

For so long, road accidents have been swallowing a sizable majority of citizens of Ghana daily and the number keeps surging and multiplying. It closes up and draws near and nearer.

I must say, road accidents, swallowed as many humans in Ghana for the past three (3) months than the novel coronavirus has done to twenty-five (25) African countries combined, yet we have all shifted focus and as if the deaths on our roads have gone to roost.

I think we should equally pay attention to the carnage on our roads, the Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CSM), Cholera and the deadly Malaria as they continue wiping out sections of our race.

Over the week, there was news break, at the time parts of the Country had been restricted in their daily movements to stay home; that the Upper East and West, Savana, and the Northern Regions of Ghana were rubbing shoulders in the record of CSM. We found out that CSM has outperformed Covid?19 in regards to the death toll. It had already claimed 48 lives out of the 448 cases recorded still counting. The numbers keep rising and the population is whittled down as the death toll increases.

Dear reader,

It seems little attention is given to these ‘killers’ of the land? it needs not be hushed up. I should say, there is much to do and to do well. I should reiterate also in certain words that we ‘should equally carry the news and sensitize the citizens’ in what to do in a time like this.

I’m not sure after washing hands under running water, wearing protective gloves and nose masks, and we carelessly drive, drink to drive; drive tired and when our roads are in deplorable states, we will curb the rate at which road accidents claim lives in Ghana. Unless we equally give much attention to these other menaces, we will continue losing precious lives?Lives that matter. Who knows when and where the next accident is occurring?

Inasmuch as we prioritizes the novel Coronavirus and injecting money and all machinery to send it back to history, and work hard to combat it with the maximum force it deserves; we should not forget that the other killer who took away more than 2,284 lives in 2019 alone, according to the Metro Traffic and Transport Division (MTTD), lingers around.

There should be more public education and awareness. It is time to institutionalize our systems and make it work. It is time we treat all other things in Ghana with oneness and prompt efforts as we handle Covid?19…. ?which the carnage on our roads is no exception.

I implore the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), the Ghana Road Safety Commission, the Ghana Police Service to liaise with the judiciary to find lasting measures that can help to regulate road users who flout road safety regulations? Measures that deter other road users not to commit similar blunders; measures that will make careless driving, over speeding, and drunk driving criminal. It will also solve one utmost purpose when road contractors do not make our roads with substandard materials that wears off quickly by the rain or human activities.

I sincerely ask all road users most especially the ‘Okada’ groups to assist the MTTD and the Ghana Police Service to make works easier on our roads in cases where traffic regulations are concerned.

As we ferociously wrestle the novel Coronavirus, we do not forget to remain calm, allow the Ghana Health Service and NOGUCHI to do their job and finally comply with the necessary regulations stipulated by the World Health Organization (WHO).

God bless Ghana.