COMMENTARY ON FATALITIES ON THE ROADS

The revelation by the National Road Safety Commission that 506 lives perished through road accidents in third quarter of this year is most disturbing. It is even disheartening to note that exactly ten months into the year 2013, a total of one thousand, 625 people have died on our roads with thousands of others sustaining various degree of injuries with some rendered paralysed for life. Death, though inevitable, is very painful no matter the form or dimension it takes.

However, for one to leave home for market or work, only to perish through road accident raises sorrowful questions that are justifiably imbued with shock and pain, to families, friends and loved ones.

Today Road accidents continue to claim more lives than HIV and AIDS, malaria, cancers of all kinds and other deadly diseases combined. Pathetic as it may; be, fatalities on our roads have earned the country the tag of being one of the accident prone zones in the sub region.

What is more regrettable is the fact that majority of these fatal accidents are preventable. It either appears that efforts over the years to reduce carriage on our roads are yielding no results or the principal stakeholders in the road sector are simply not walking their talk.

For instance the National Road Safety Commission told the nation in January this year that 2,45 people died whiles 1,260 were injured through road accidents in December 2012 with over speeding accounting for about 60 percent of road fatalities.

The questions is what has the Commission done between January and October to reduce over speeding related accidents? It is true that some accidents are inevitable so long as the human factor plays a role and that is why it is called accident. It is also true that most of the accidents are self induced, inflicted and afflicted.

The phenomenon is so serious to the extent that today it is not enough for a driver to be extra careful to avoid an accident. This is because another reckless driver or even an okada rider can get one involved in an accident. It is a known fact that most of the young people who drive are simply under the influence of drugs including alcohol.

Considering how precious the human life is to God and society such irresponsible people have no business being behind the steering wheel. If the services of a medical doctor is tagged, essential, because he deals with lives, then the work of the driver should equally be regarded as such because drivers equally handle human lives.

A couple of years ago, the GPRTU banned the sale of alcohol at lorry stations, but is it not a known fact that there are drinking spots scattered around most lorry stations throughout the country?

This and other factors such as the indiscriminate sale of used and sometime worn out tyres, the calibre of vehicles that pass road worthy test and the kind of people licensed to drive particularly commercial vehicles make some people wonder if Ghana is actually committed to ending the needless accidents on the roads.

About two years ago the MTTU started arresting drivers who use their phones while driving.

Today the doubting Thomases that saw the exercise as cosmetic are being proved right as both commercial and private drivers continue to chat on phones whilst driving with impunity.

For fear of being tagged 'too known' as we call it in local parlance, many passengers prefer to remain silent when the driver is over speeding, wrongfully overtaking, talking on the phone or to pick a passenger at the wrong place.

Tackling accidents on the road needs a collaborative approach. The DVLA , MTTU, Road Safety Commission, Vehicle owners, government and passengers should all be on board. The hard truth is that some of the vehicles that ply the roads right from the nation's capital to the remotest parts are death traps to say the least.

The DVLA must adopt a more practical way of testing prospecting drivers before issuing them license and perhaps take a second look at what it considers road worthy vehicles? There should, for instance, be a system in place to withdraw the license of reckless drivers.

The talking is enough. The time to act is now. Christmas is less than two months away and as usual demand for road transportation will exceed supply of the service and some drivers will surely want to use all means including over speeding and wrongful over taking to reap supernormal profit.

This could lead to loss of lives and must be nipped in the bud. The MTTU must go beyond checking drivers license and papers on the windscreen to actually finding out if lorry tyres are worthy of certain journeys.

The police should bear in mind that it will be an indictment on their image if they look on for the wrongs to go on. It is not also enough to put numerous adverts on road safety. The road safety rules must be religiously enforced.

The MTTU should start deploying more personnel on the roads ahead of the Christmas and New Year festivities to avoid needless deaths.

Whilst we pray for the souls of those who have perished through road accidents, let us pray that the Holy Spirit Whom God sent to be our comforter will lead every vehicle on the road bearing in mind the scriptural admonition that by strength shall no man succeed.

BY GEORGE ASEKE, JOURNALIS T