Koforidua (Eastern Region) - The latest craze to hit Koforidua, a town known for its flowers is the construction of illegal speed ramps across roads in the municipality.
The Trom-Adenta road has numerous speed ramps constructed with gravel that are higher than the accepted heights and they are without warning signs to drivers. Thus drivers, who are not familiar with the terrain, are forced to screech to a stop.
The situation if unchecked, could cause vehicles to overturn where a driver fails to notice the ramps in time and goes over them.
A Ghana News Agency investigation revealed that the communities living along the road decide to construct those unauthorised ramps because of speeding vehicles.
The situation is replicated in other parts of the Municipality. In the areas where road rehabilitation works are on-going shop owners and food sellers along the road have constructed unauthorised ramps on the roads to force motorists to slow down to reduce the amount of dust blown.
On the Slaughter House Junction road leading to the St. George's Catholic Church and other roads in the Municipality the people have used broken blocks and boulders to build partial roadblocks to force motorists to slow down.
One of two vehicles from the opposite direction has to find a place to park to allow the other to meander between the roadblocks. Sometimes the distances between the roadblocks pose threat to pedestrians since motorists are forced to make dangerous turns to be able to pass.
The question that comes to mind is if there are state institutions that are responsible for deciding where roadblocks or speed ramps should be why should their construction be left to the various communities?
It would be useless and waste of public resources and time for all of us to wait and pretend as if we are not aware of what is happening until human life is lost. All unauthorised speed ramps and roadblocks should be cleared to allow for the free flow of traffic.
Where the speed ramps are authorised they should be constructed to specifications and the appropriate road signs put up to warn motorists. This is a classic case of the indiscipline that Vice President Aliu Mahama has elected himself to lead the country to fight and let all state institutions live up expectation.
