I often recall the words of my eight-year-old son, Damyan, as he looked up at his mother and asked, “Mummy, what if we have an accident on the road?”

Those words from a child’s consciousness weighed heavily on my mind as I drove back home after leaving my two children and their mother at the Sunyani VIP bus terminal, on their way to Accra for holidays.

The ever-present bad news of people perishing on our roads, often from preventable causes, has gained the normalcy of everydayness, and it is troubling that a child in primary class four could already be concerned about his own mortality. I tried to shake that thought off my mind, hoping only for the best.

But then another thought followed. “What if there were armed passengers aboard the bus?” Was that possible? Could that happen?

Sadly, yes to both questions. I have constantly wondered why passengers of VIP buses, and indeed any major bus transportation system in Ghana, are not searched for security purposes before boarding.

At the Sunyani Airport, for example,  I have seen people thoroughly searched before boarding the plane. Why? We live in an unpredictably dangerous world, and our sense of responsibility towards self-preservation and the protection of property should be equally high.

Security consciousness on our roads should be on par with that in the air.  Death everywhere is death. There is no dying less, whether through accident or through neglect of security protocols on our transportation systems.

It is time for Ghana to awaken to this consciousness. Transport unions, bus operators, and regulatory authorities must introduce routine passenger and luggage checks at major bus terminals.

These measures, conducted respectfully and professionally, will deter harmful activities, reassure passengers, and save lives. The public must also embrace this culture of vigilance. Just as we accept ticket checks before boarding, we must accept security checks as part of our collective responsibility. Safety first!

The author, Cosmas Rai Amenorvi (PhD) is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani.