Ghana’s Road Safety Crisis: We Must Move From Reaction To Prevention

The ongoing loss of life on Ghana’s roads demands more than expressions of sympathy, temporary police exercises, television discussions, or promises of new technology. It demands that we ask a fundamental question: Are we genuinely trying to prevent road crashes, or have we become accustomed to reacting only after people have died?

I listened carefully to the recent comments from the Director-General of the National Road Safety Authority about the tragic multiple-vehicle crash and Ghana’s broader road-safety crisis. He described the number of lives lost as “unprecedented” and “unacceptable.” I agree. He also drew an important comparison between the attention given to road crashes and the attention societies give to aviation disasters and other national emergencies.

He recalled being in Leipzig, Germany, where a vehicle struck a person in the city center, and the incident drew enormous public and media attention. His broader point was that repeated road deaths in Ghana appear to have become normalized. Again, I agree. A person killed on a highway is no less valuable than one killed in an aircraft disaster. We must stop treating road deaths as an unavoidable part of everyday life.

Where I strongly disagree with the Director-General, however, is with some of the solutions he proposed.

HARASSMENT IS NOT ENFORCEMENT
Regarding the reported withdrawal of Motor Traffic and Transport Department personnel from the roads following complaints of harassment and extortion, the Director-General stated:

“On any day, I would prefer the MTTD on the roads harassing drivers while keeping our roads safe than taking them off completely.”

He also observed:
“People do what you inspect. They don’t do what you expect.”

His underlying point—that visible enforcement influences driver behavior—is valid. When motorists know traffic laws are enforced, many change their behavior.

But harassment is not enforcement.
Police officers should be on Ghana’s roads, but their purpose must be to enforce the law professionally, protect the public, identify dangerous drivers, secure crash scenes, and save lives. If an officer stops a reckless driver, accepts money, and lets that driver continue, the danger persists. The potential victim farther down the road receives no protection.

Ghana should therefore reject the false choice between no enforcement and abusive enforcement. We need properly trained MTTD officers, digital citations, minimal cash transactions at the roadside, accountability for misconduct, and enforcement focused on behaviors that kill, including excessive speed, impaired driving, reckless overtaking, distracted driving, unsafe vehicles, and dangerous commercial driving.

Police presence can save lives. Police harassment should never be used as road-safety policy.

CAMERAS CAN CAPTURE A DRIVER—THEY CANNOT CREATE ONE

The Director-General also discussed traffic technology and speed cameras. Technology plays an important role. Cameras can identify violations, provide evidence, and deter dangerous behavior.

But a camera cannot teach someone to drive.
It cannot teach hazard perception, following distance, speed management, visual scanning, safe overtaking, space management, nighttime driving, or defensive driving. A camera may record a bad decision after the driver has already made it. Driver education seeks to influence that decision before the danger arises.

After more than 24 years in driver education, one principle has become clear to me: the vehicle does not make driving decisions; the driver does. Road design, streetlights, lane markings, vehicle condition, traffic signals, speed limits, enforcement, and technology all matter. Ultimately, the person behind the wheel decides whether to accelerate, brake, pass, follow too closely, drive while fatigued, use a mobile phone, or reduce speed when conditions demand caution.

A safe driver must continuously search, evaluate, and execute: search the environment for potential hazards, evaluate how those hazards may develop, and execute the safest response before the situation becomes an emergency. That is the essence of defensive driving.

Driver education is therefore not simply about teaching someone to steer, accelerate, brake, or pass a licensing test. Its greater purpose is to develop a driver who can think ahead, recognize risks, anticipate others' actions, and make safe decisions before an emergency occurs.

BUT THE DRIVER CANNOT CARRY THE ENTIRE BURDEN

Driver education must never be used as an excuse for poor roads, inadequate lighting, weak engineering, or ineffective government systems. People make mistakes, and even responsible drivers occasionally err in judgment.

A safe transportation system must therefore provide multiple layers of protection so that a single mistake does not automatically become a death sentence. This principle underlies the internationally recognized Safe System approach: roads and roadsides, speeds, vehicles, road users, enforcement, and post-crash response must work together to accommodate human error and reduce the likelihood that mistakes result in death or serious injury.

Good roads alone will not solve the problem. Neither will driver education, police enforcement, nor cameras alone.

Education teaches drivers what to do. Engineering creates a safer environment in which to act. Enforcement addresses those who deliberately refuse to comply. Emergency response mitigates the consequences when prevention fails.

WHY WAS THE OBSTRUCTION STILL ON THE ROAD?

According to news reports, the circumstances surrounding the recent crash raise another serious question. According to the account discussed on the program, an “Aboboyaa,” or three-wheeled tricycle, had reportedly been involved in an earlier incident and remained on or near the active roadway before other vehicles became involved in the subsequent multiple-vehicle collision.

If the official investigation confirms that account, we must ask: Why was that obstruction still on an active roadway?

Investigators should determine when the original incident occurred, who was notified, how long the obstruction persisted, whether approaching motorists were warned, whether traffic was controlled, whether recovery equipment was dispatched, and whether earlier removal could have prevented secondary collisions.

A warning triangle is important, as are hazard lights and reflectors. But warning motorists about a hazard is not the same as removing the hazard.

A triangle says, “Danger ahead.”

An effective incident-management system asks, “How quickly can we safely remove the hazard?”

If a disabled truck, bus, tricycle, or other vehicle occupies part of a narrow, poorly lit roadway, warning devices may improve visibility, but the physical obstruction remains. The safest approach on an active highway is to remove the obstruction.

Ghana therefore needs a Rapid Roadway Clearance Program. Major corridors should have access to strategically positioned or contracted towing and heavy-recovery equipment. Police, fire, ambulance, road agencies, and recovery operators should operate under a single incident-management protocol with measurable response and clearance times. A highway should not become a mechanic’s workshop while traffic continues to move around a disabled vehicle.

HIGHWAY DESIGN MUST HELP PREVENT THE NEXT TRAGEDY.

This crash must also prompt Ghana to examine the physical design of high-risk highways. If a roadway is narrow, dark, poorly marked, and offers little room for motorists to recover when something goes wrong, a single disabled vehicle can create conditions for a catastrophe.

The solution is not simply “building wider roads.” Highway design must account for emergencies and human error.

First, major high-speed roads need adequate shoulders and recovery areas. Where practical, a disabled vehicle should be able to exit the travel lane entirely rather than remain partially exposed to traffic. Properly designed shoulders also provide emergency responders and recovery vehicles with safer operating space.

Second, high-risk corridors need clear roadside recovery zones. The area immediately beyond the roadway should, where feasible, be free of unnecessary fixed hazards and designed so that a driver who leaves the lane can regain control or stop safely rather than immediately striking an object.

Third, Ghana should improve nighttime delineation. High-quality retroreflective centerlines and edge lines, raised pavement markers or appropriate delineators, reflective signs, curve-warning devices, and well-maintained markings can help drivers understand the roadway alignment at night and in adverse weather conditions.

Fourth, consider centerline and edge-line rumble strips for suitable high-speed corridors. These features produce sound and vibration when a vehicle begins drifting from its lane, providing an additional warning to a distracted, fatigued, or inattentive driver before crossing into opposing traffic or leaving the roadway.

Fifth, median and roadside barriers should be installed where engineering studies identify a significant risk of cross-median crashes, steep drop-offs, bridge hazards, or hazardous fixed objects. Barriers should be professionally designed and placed according to roadway conditions, not installed indiscriminately.

Sixth, prioritize lighting by risk. Ghana does not need to illuminate every kilometer of every highway, but intersections, pedestrian activity areas, major junctions, known crash locations, bridges, and other conflict points should receive appropriate lighting based on an engineering assessment.

Seventh, high-speed corridors should include emergency pull-off areas or lay-bys where continuous shoulders cannot reasonably be provided. These areas would provide disabled vehicles with a safer location away from traffic.

Eighth, major corridors should include advance warning systems. Variable-message signs, incident-warning signs, traffic-management centers, emergency communications, and other systems can alert approaching motorists to crashes, disabled vehicles, lane closures, congestion, and other unexpected hazards before drivers reach the scene.

Ninth, pedestrian safety must be engineered into the road system. Where highways pass through communities, engineering should prioritize protected crossings, pedestrian refuges, sidewalks or separated walking areas, appropriate lighting, speed management, and other measures that recognize pedestrians as legitimate road users, not intruders on roads built solely for vehicles.

These features create what engineers often call a more forgiving road environment; one that acknowledges that drivers will occasionally make mistakes and offers opportunities to recover before those mistakes become fatal.

ROAD SAFETY MUST BEGIN BEFORE THE STEERING WHEEL IS TOUCHED.

However, engineering cannot replace education.

I have spent more than 24 years in the driver-education industry, and thousands of students have passed through institutions and programs whose training I have personally managed. They have included beginning and experienced drivers, police officers, professional athletes, and people from many backgrounds.

That experience has taught me that education changes drivers' behavior.

A properly educated driver learns to look farther ahead, maintain a safe following distance, recognize escape paths, anticipate pedestrians, adjust speed to conditions, understand risk, and appreciate that right-of-way is never a license to collide with another person.

Ghana should therefore introduce meaningful road-safety education in secondary schools, preferably at an earlier stage. Young people should understand speed, stopping distance, pedestrian safety, seat belts, distractions, alcohol and drugs, motorcycles, nighttime visibility, following distance, road signs, right-of-way, and defensive-driving principles before they receive a driver's license.

A driver's license must also demonstrate competence, not merely grant permission to operate a vehicle. Licensing should evaluate hazard perception, judgment, speed and space management, interaction with vulnerable road users, and defensive-driving ability, rather than merely whether someone can steer and control a vehicle.

THIS IS PERSONAL TO ME
I do not write about road safety only from the perspective of a driver-education professional. My own family has paid for reckless driving in Ghana with human lives, twice.

In September 2010, I lost my immediate senior brother after he was struck and killed by a vehicle driven by a teenager. Then, on December 30, 2025, tragedy struck my family again when I lost my nephew, the surviving son of one of my deceased brothers. He was killed by a reckless driver while crossing the street.

These are not statistics to me. They are members of my family. They have names, faces, histories, and permanent places in our memories. I know what it means to receive the devastating news that someone you love left home and will never return. I know what it means to bury a family member whose death might have been prevented. I also know that long after the accident scene has been cleared and public attention has moved elsewhere, the family is left to carry the grief and consequences for the rest of their lives.

That is why I take this issue personally and refuse to accept preventable road deaths as an inevitable part of life in Ghana. Every time another person is killed due to reckless driving, inadequate training, unsafe road conditions, or failures in enforcement and emergency response, another family begins a painful journey that families like mine know all too well.

Our road-safety laws, enforcement practices, insurance arrangements, and victim-support systems must therefore place victims and their families at the center of the conversation. When someone is killed or catastrophically injured, our concern cannot end with investigating the driver or clearing the accident scene. We must also ask what happens to the spouse who has lost a partner, the children who have lost a parent, the parents who have lost a child, and the family suddenly confronted with medical bills, funeral expenses, lost income, and lifelong emotional consequences.

Road safety must ultimately protect human life; when the system fails to prevent a tragedy, it must not forget the victims and their families.

“WE ARE A REGULATOR” — THEN REGULATION MUST DELIVER RESULTS.

The Director-General correctly explained that the NRSA is a regulator, not the agency responsible for painting roads, installing streetlights, or constructing barriers.

That distinction should be respected.
But regulation must ensure accountability.
If a dangerous road lacks adequate markings, which agency has been directed to correct the issue? If a bridge requires barriers, what deadline has been set? If a high-risk location remains dark, what action is taken? If disabled vehicles repeatedly remain on highways, which agency is responsible for clearing them, and how is that agency's performance measured?

The Director-General compared the regulator to a headmaster. The analogy is useful. A headmaster does not personally teach every class, but when a teacher repeatedly fails to perform, the headmaster cannot simply say, “That is not my classroom.”

Regulation without accountability is mere observation.

A PRACTICAL NATIONAL ROAD-SAFETY PLAN
The stakeholder strategic meeting proposed by the Director-General should therefore lead to measurable action, not another communiqué. Ghana needs an integrated national plan centered on Education, Engineering, Enforcement, Emergency Response, Technology, Evaluation, and Accountability.

The engineering component should begin with safety audits of high-fatality corridors and a prioritized program covering shoulders and recovery areas, clear zones, reflective markings, rumble strips, barriers, lighting, safer intersections, pedestrian facilities, emergency pull-offs, and incident-warning systems. The education component should begin in schools and continue through licensing and professional-driver refresher training. Enforcement should be visible, targeted, professional, and corruption-resistant. Emergency response should include rapid incident detection and clearance. Technology should support these functions rather than replace them. Every agency should set measurable performance targets.

Most importantly, every serious or fatal crash should be treated as a learning opportunity. Investigators should ask not only who was at fault but also why the system failed. Was the speed inappropriate? Was the driver adequately trained? Were the road markings appropriate? Was visibility sufficient? Was there adequate recovery space? Was a barrier needed? How long was the obstruction present? Could authorities have detected and cleared it sooner? Could a secondary collision have been prevented?

Then the findings must lead to corrective action.

THE PURPOSE IS NOT TO CATCH THE DRIVER BUT TO PREVENT THE CRASH.

I finally return to the Director-General's statement: “People do what you inspect. They don't do what you expect.”

I agree, but let us inspect everyone.
Inspect the driver, the vehicle, the commercial operator, the driving school, the road, the road markings, the streetlights, the contractor, the police officer, the emergency response, the recovery system, the implementing agencies, and the regulator.

Accountability cannot flow in a single direction.

Road safety is not measured by how many motorists we stop, how many tickets we issue, how many cameras we install, or how frightened drivers become when they see the police. Those metrics measure activity, not safety.

The real measures are whether fatalities and serious injuries are decreasing, dangerous roads are being corrected, drivers are becoming better educated, disabled vehicles are being cleared more quickly, dangerous offenders are being handled professionally, and families are returning home safely.

I commend the Director-General for acknowledging that Ghana's road-deaths crisis is unacceptable. I agree that enforcement is necessary, technology can help, road agencies must be held accountable, and education must be central to road safety.

But two wrongs do not make a right. Ghana should never be forced to choose between lawlessness and police harassment.

We need educated drivers and road users. We need competent licensing. We need professionally trained instructors. We need safer, more forgiving highways. We need professional enforcement. We need rapid incident clearance. We need technology, emergency response, victim protection, and institutional accountability.

Above all, we must shift our philosophy from reacting to preventing.

A camera may photograph an offender. A police officer may stop an offender. A court may punish an offender. But good driver education can influence decisions before an offense occurs. Good highway engineering can give a driver the space, visibility, warning, and protection needed to prevent a mistake from becoming fatal. Professional enforcement can stop deliberate, dangerous behavior. Rapid incident clearance can prevent one crash from causing another.

No country can eliminate every human mistake. But Ghana can build a road system in which those mistakes are far less likely to result in fatalities.

After more than 24 years in driver education and after losing both my brother and my nephew to road crashes in Ghana, I am calling for reform.

This tragedy must stop.
Road safety should not ultimately be measured by how many people we stop, fine, photograph, or prosecute for dangerous behavior. It should be measured by how effectively we educate, engineer, regulate, enforce, and respond, so that Ghanaian families do not have to bury people who should have made it home alive.

Every journey should end with the traveler arriving safely.

By Charles Kpodzo
Driver Educator and Road Safety Advocate

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