The Techiman North District Chief Executive, Peter Mensah has attributed indiscipline by commercial drivers, impunity as well as politicians as the major causes of most road accidents. 

According to Hon Peter Mensah, Most of our law enforcement agencies, especially the Police service, Metropolitan Assemblies, District Assemblies, Judiciary, Chieftaincy, Driver and Vehicle Licencing Authority (DVLA are also found wanting because of political influence. These agencies are expected to ensure compliance and enforcement of laws, rules and regulations.

He said, various socio-economic, political, cultural, religious and administrative factors contribute to indiscipline and lawlessness in a country. However, the root causes of indiscipline and lawlessness in a country, of which Ghana is no exception, emanate from.

Kintampo Accident

Dozens are reported dead Monday morning after a Yutong bus reportedly collided with a mini Sprinter bus with registration number AS 1801-18 on the Kintampo-Tamale Highway at dawn in the Bono-East region.

Reports say that both vehicles went up in flames after the crash and about thirty passengers have been burnt beyond recognition in the inferno, according to the local radio station.

Background

Many countries have beautifully written ‘core values’, but these values are neither lived nor cemented into the collective consciousness of their people. They neither inform their decisions nor guide their visions. They become merely beautiful words of a national anthem or an inspiring plaque hung on a wall.

Therefore, indiscipline by the Cambridge dictionary is a situation in which people do not control their behaviour or obey rules. It refers to lack of discipline, lack of control, lack of proper training, unruly behavior, disobedience, disorder. Indiscipline implies a lack of self-control and disobedience resulting in blatant violation of rules and regulation, which in turn creates mayhem and commotion. It is a fact that acts of indiscipline result from lack of self-discipline.

The DCE’s  observations

Speaking on OTEC fm Afternoon show dubbed ‘Dwabrem’ Hon Peter Mensah observed that, ‘’ just take a look at our traffic situation, especially in the metropolis. Day in day out, you see the same pathetic condition wherein motor vehicle drivers compete for space on our narrow roads; not only with each other but also with push-carts, bicycles (which often times travel from the opposite direction of the traffic), tricycles and motor-cycles that dangerously cut in front of everything that happens to be in their way, riding through red traffic-lights; cattle crossing the road between cars without a herdsman, frequent fatal accidents due to reckless driving by unqualified and indisciplined drivers; unnecessary overtaking, driving and at the same time speaking on mobile phone (lack of concentration), over speeding, driving on the shoulders of the road; non-maintenance of vehicles, pedestrians crossing the road at inappropriate places or when vehicles have been given right of way to move’’.

According to Hon Peter Mensah, in most advanced countries, drivers who commit traffic offences are fined and penalty points put on their licenses. The points are predetermined for the different categories of traffic offences. Up to a certain level of penalty points accumulated, one can lose his or her license either for a specified time or even in some cases for good.

Owing to the socio-economic impacts that road traffic accidents generate, it deserves to be given political priority and commitment. Unfortunately in Ghana, there appears to be a lack of political will to make interventions that support road safety campaigns, such as in developed countries like the United States, Japan and Finland, where the personal commitment and interest of their heads of state in the maintenance of sanity on the roads has culminated in a drastic decrease in road accidents and adherence to road regulations. 

‘’ Most of the accidents on our highways can be prevented if drivers, DLVA, MTTU and GPRTU do their work well. When one fails to do the correct thing, it is the passenger who presents his or her body as the sacrifice to somebody?s inaction. Indiscipline is the cause in most cases amongst Ghanaians, even more than HIV/AIDS’’, he told the programme’s host, Dr Cash.

The Techiman North DCE said, most drivers have high percentages of blood alcohol (ranging from 300-383/100ml), which is far above the accepted level of 2.43/100ml. This is enough to cause motor accidents.

MTTU statistics estimate that most accidents are caused by broken down vehicles on our roads. It is sad and disheartening to see a broken down vehicle on our highways with no warning triangle to warn oncoming vehicles. On the Kumasi-Accra and Kumasi-Tamale highways, there are enough incidents of this sort at any point in time to prove this point. The police see this and do nothing about it. They only come in when it causes an accident.

Source: Ghana/otecfmghana.com