Ghana Needs You Alive

As I drove to work this morning, I chanced upon smartly dressed personnel of the Ghana police service distributing stickers to drivers within the central business district of the Tamale metropolis; my curious self got closer to one of the personnel and was given a sticker with “stop road accidents” boldly inscripted on it; “speed kills, drive slowly”, was boldly written on the additional sticker I received from the neatly dressed young police woman, she beamed with smiles and gently said to me “drive safely Ghana needs you alive”.; “ I’m impressed”, I said to myself.

Close to a week earlier, as I grounded to halt under a traffic in town, I saw personnel from the MTTD approach motorcycle riders to drum home the need for them to wear helmets as part of safety procedures.

In fact I was awestruck and touched by the professional manner with which these personnel approached motorists and most importantly the message behind the campaign; kudos to the police administration and the National road safety commission for this commendable initiative.

Statistics from the national road safety commission indicates a total number of 10,051 crashes of which 16,281 vehicles were involved resulting in 9,973 injuries and 1,710 deaths, this was from January to September this year; for one reason or the other, several lives have been cut short due to avoidable crashes.

These sensitization programmes I believe have come just-in-time to help curb the carnage we find on our roads during the festive seasons, not only that but, periods after the festive season too; a driver once said to me that, knowing how to move a vehicle does not make you a good driver but how well you apply your sense of judgement behind the wheels.

Somewhere Easter this year, I received news on social media of a gentleman who died through an accident on the kintampo-Tamale road, news had it that he was seated in the middle of rear seats without seat belts and was constantly in chats with the driver; at the time of the accident he was thrown out of the vehicle when the driver screeched to a halt, other occupants of the vehicle escaped unhurt; this is a clear case for the need to wear seat belts at all times.

Inappropriate parking, speeding beyond limits, drunk driving, mobile phone usage, excessive conversation with passengers during driving, driving tired and driving without seat-belt are part of the avoidable human errors that leads to road accidents; at all times, it is important that the driver even though in a haste must drive patiently.

It would gladden me if this programme becomes a routine within the Ghana police service, we need more of these initiatives to sensitize Ghanaians on the need to observe safety procedures when driving; road accidents have diverse effects, people will lose parents, breadwinners, friends, siblings and costs will be incurred in organizing funerals especially in the southern part of Ghana. The death of ebony reigns early this year is still fresh in the minds of her family and Ghanaians at large.

Ensuring road safety is a collective responsibility and does not lie solely on the oars of the government and road safety bodies; that notwithstanding, responsible authorities should ensure our roads are kept in good shape, potholes appropriately sealed, street lights and faulty traffic lights repaired to avoid deaths during the yuletide and beyond.

To my dear reader, I relay the message from the police service this morning to you, be a good passenger or pedestrian and if you drive “drive safely Ghana needs you alive”.