Reports on the number of accidents and deaths on our roads over the years are depressing.
The National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) has revealed that, a total of 2,924 persons died in 2021 through road crashes. Additionally, 15,972 road crashes were recorded within the same period, resulting in 13,048injuries.
No doubt, the leading cause of road accidents is over-speeding and general negligence of safety and driving rules. Added to these driving under fatigue, driving under the influence of a substance, over-loading, reckless driving.
Another major factor of road accidents is the number of potholes and in some instances manholes on our roads.
There is no stretch of road in Ghana, without potholes. No sooner had the road been constructed and commissioned than the potholes begin to emerge.
The Tema Motorway which used to be a flagship road and linked Accra to Tema, is now riddled with potholes. Attempts made to fix the potholes, only lead to the emergence of new ones, which are even worse than the old ones.
The quality of most of our roads is generally poor which aides their speedy decay. The poor quality of construction work is easily attributable to corruption on the part of government officials who collude with contractors to fleece the nation as contracts are perceived as quick means of making the megabucks.
These poorly build roads crumble so fast because, in the main, they are equally poorly maintained.
Adding to the deterioration is damage caused by flooding during the annual rainy season, as well as other climatic condition.
It may be convenient to argue that the roads are bad not necessarily because of a lack of effort on the part of the government to make them good. But because they are the only reliable means of transportation, they are over used and in some cases abused.
in the opinion of this newspaper, government must expand the railway lines and introduce other means of transport to reduce the pressure on the roads.
