It is often said that a loss of one single life is enough grief, especially when it is a preventable death. I have been struggling for nearly a fortnight now to capture the word(s) that could appropriately describe the feeling for the most painful loss of 34 souls through the recklessness of a driver.

Grief, anger, disappointment, regret, hopelessness, all flashback in one’s mind as an entire nation painfully mourns those who perished in a twinkle following the tragic but preventable accident that happened at Dompoase, a village on the Cape Coast – Takoradi road nearly a couple of weeks ago. The pain is even more piercing to think that it was an avoidable accident if the driver had exercised a bit of patience and circumspection on the road at that time of the night.

We have been told over and over again by experts that road traffic accidents alone claim more lives than some of the killer diseases we live with. The same experts also tell us that more than half of accidents on the roads are caused by human errors. Yet, we do not seem to take any heed when behind the steering wheel.

Dangerous venture

If you are a driver, irrespective of the distance one covers, there is no doubt you would have noticed that driving in town or on the highways has become a dangerous venture. It gets even more alarming and frustrating when police on duty watch on and fail to call bully drivers to order. People are driving with very little regard for their lives, their passengers and other road users, including pedestrians.

Caution has been thrown to the wind by some drivers and these are the ones who are causing needless deaths and maiming others.  Pedestrian crossings are glossed over. Road signs are ignored, the right of way at roundabouts have been dangerously compromised it has become the survival of the fittest. It is dreadful to go through some such roundabouts, with or without police presence.

Just a couple of days after the gory accident and despite the extensive media discussions on the recklessness of some drivers, the fresh pain of the loss of 34 lives and 56 survivors on hospital beds with varying injuries did not move some drivers. Business was back as usual on the roads. The reality is impatience and respect for other road users. Some drivers step on their accelerators ready to display pomposity demonstrating that they are the smartest guys when it comes to road navigation.

Serious introspection

The time for us to do serious introspection and bring to the table, the roles we could all play as stakeholders to bring sanity and decorum on our roads is now.

We should all begin to drop our mobile phones when behind the steering wheel for the sake of other road users. Vehicle owners should continuously talk to their drivers reminding them of the lives that they carry across each day. Regular medical checks, including eye tests, should be made a habit. I am yet to come across a commercial driver who wears spectacles. Does that mean they all have good eyesight?

Passengers should begin to speak out and protest when they notice their driver treading dangerously. Vehicle maintenance should be of utmost necessity to all drivers. The Driver and Vehicle License Authority (DVLA) should not compromise on the certification of vehicles that are not worthy for the road as doing so also compromises on the safety of passengers and all road users. 

The police, under the MTTD, may be doing their best by being visible in the heat of the sun at vantage points on our roads. However, they need to do more by frustrating and punishing reckless drivers who take the law into their own hands and try to circumvent regulations.  We should see more prosecutions with stiffer punishments including seizing licenses and banning serious road traffic offenders from driving for a long period of time.

But above all, we should all try and desist from late-night travelling on the highways where necessary, bearing in mind the risk factors.  The once-upon-a-time ban on articulated trucks and other heavy-loaded trucks moving after 6 pm should be reconsidered. Generally, travelling at night raises the risk of encountering a tired driver, a driver with poor vision, and reduced visibility at night time, among others. 

Enough has long been enough. While calling on all drivers to be circumspect on the road, it is time for law enforcers to severely punish reckless driving to save other road users. Such punishment should be dished out without delay.