Johns Hopkins University, CSIR-BRRI engage stakeholders, share report on road safety situation in Kumasi

A team from Johns Hopkins University (JHU)-USA, CSIR-Building and Road Research Institute (CSIR-BRRI), Kumasi and the BIGRS have shared with stakeholders a report on roadside observational surveys that they conducted in Kumasi, covering the years 2020 to 2022.

It happened at the first batch of the Bloomberg Road Safety workshop which took place in Kumasi on 24th October, 2023 at the Golden Bean Hotel, aimed at increasing visibility of the road safety data and ensuring its effective use in Road Safety Management programmes in Kumasi.

Ultimately, it sought to reduce road injuries and fatalities.

The report captured observations of risk factors such as speed, helmet use and seat-belt and child restraint use and was conducted through the Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS) project.

Turning up at the workshop were elected assembly members within the Kumasi metropolis, officials from DVLA, security officials, journalists and other stakeholders.

SPEED IN KUMASI
Findings from the survey disclose among other facts that excessive speed still remains an issue in Kumasi.

90% of the vehicles were speeding in May 2022 and drivers were three times more likely to speed on weekends compared with weekdays.

According to the report, speeding was 50 times more common on roads with partially controlled access to pedestrians compared with roads with full access to pedestrians.

This still presents risks to road traffic injuries to pedestrians.

Officials have indicated that the speed limit in Kumasi 50 km/h which is irrespective of the road type is higher than the global recommendation of 30 km/h for local and collector roads.

Ing. Francis Afukaar, an officer at CSIR-BRRI indicated in his presentation at the workshop that speeding has been slightly decreasing in Kumasi since 2021 but remains high at 33%.

He mentioned that motorcycles are the number one cause of death in Ghana.

Some of his recommendations to address the situation were that, speed enforcement measures should be focused on all vehicle types. He added that the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly together with the National Road Safety Authority should implement speed bumps and rumble strips to protect vulnerable road users.

Ing. Francis also called for the development of consistent mass media campaigns that are coordinated with and complement enhanced enforcement campaigns.

Police and law enforcement agencies according to him should also enhance enforcement of speed limits across the city throughout the week among others.

HELMET USE IN KUMASI
Ing. Francis highlighted in his presentation that correct helmet use was low among drivers (44%) and rare (6%) among passengers in Kumasi.

Motorcyclists were three times more likely to wear helmets correctly when on arterial roads compared to occupants on local and collector roads.

Motorcyclists were twice as likely to wear helmets in the presence of both police and enforcement cameras, compared with the absence of law enforcement.

Correct helmet use was more common among passengers of ride-sharers (33%) compared with other types of motorcycle passengers (6-14).

Seat-Belt and Child Restraint Use in Kumasi

Ing. Dr. William Ackaah, Head of Transportation Engineering Division, CSIR-BRRI also noted in his presentation that overall seat-belt use was low at 15%.

Seat-belt use per the findings was low among front-seat passengers (8%) and almost non-existent among rear-seat passengers (1%).

Female drivers were more likely to wear seatbelts (61) compared with male drivers.

Seat-belt use was 1.3 times more likely in the presence of both police and enforcement cameras, compared with the absence of law enforcement.

Addressing the media, Dr. James Kumwenda, Global Programme Manager for Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit said the workshop was to increase awareness on the importance of road safety and influence behavior.

“What we want to see is people understating the importance of each person playing a role when it comes to road safety and that is definitely happening level-by-level across Kumasi,” he stated.

Touching on the status-quo, he said more work needs to be done.

“So much needs to be done. We are glad to see progress but we are here to also advocate by saying that can we do more as a city when it comes to road safety?”