As a journalist, I find myself repeatedly drawn to a disheartening story that I wish I didn’t have to cover – road crashes.
It’s ironic that this grim topic is one of the most frequent I work on. Upon arriving at crash scenes, the sight of mangled vehicles never fails to break my heart.
The tragedy intensifies when lives are lost, often in undignified ways: bodies tearing apart on the floor, being burnt beyond recognition, or blood-stained on the pavement with some body parts found at the scene.
These incidents are more than just statistics; they become personal when the victims are relatives or friends. It’s then that we truly grasp the human toll of these tragedies.
Over time, I’ve witnessed countless crash scenes, some of which I hesitate to label as mere accidents since many could have been completely prevented. Tears and emotions become inevitable reactions, as I’m not immune to the anguish.
Strangely, the frequency of such incidents seems to have desensitized many journalists to some extent. At times, the first question that arises upon hearing about an incident is, “How many people died?”
The emphasis on fatalities has become a way to gauge newsworthiness, perpetuating the idea that only high death tolls warrant attention. This grim normalization has led to a cycle of promises from authorities after each incident, only for their pledges to fade from memory until the next tragedy strikes. This cycle raises questions about our society’s values.
The speeches include: “Preliminary investigations show that the driver was tired while driving. We are thus going to institute measures to ensure two drivers are on board when it comes to long-distance travels”, “Dualization of this stretch is the best way to prevent these rampant deaths. Head-on collision shouldn’t be happening. Government should consider dualization of this stretch as a priority”, “This incident was as a result of wrongful over speeding. We are going to intensify efforts in enforcing this”.
After the story is aired, no one talks about this again. Once another incident occurs, then the cycle continues. What kind of people are we?
The grim reality is that we’ve become accustomed to road crash casualties, to the point where our leaders often overlook the issue. The president and various ministries, funded by taxpayers to address the challenge, sometimes fail to acknowledge the significant loss of lives on our roads. Yet, they’re swift to respond to lesser tragedies abroad.
A rare instance of humanizing road crashes occurred when musician Ebony Reigns tragically lost her life in an “accident.” That was perhaps because she was a “celebrity”.
Ironically, while the world feared the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve overlooked the actual pandemic of road crashes that continue to claim lives in Ghana.
How do you feel when the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service data shows that 186 human lives were lost in July 2023 alone as a result of road crashes? These are the ones that have been reported.
The data further shows that a total of 8,137 road traffic crashes were recorded (reported) from January to July 2023. Out of this, there were 1,272 deaths while 9,135 sustained injuries.
Why are we allowing road accidents to wipe out breadwinners and exuberant young population as we watch on. One sad episode about all this that people usually do not pay attention to is that many of the injured persons become permanently incapacitated and become a burden to society for the rest of their lives. Why are we not taking drastic measures to address this?
One notorious hotspot for road crashes is the Accra-Kumasi highway, often the site of deadly head-on collisions. The solution is clear: dualization. The call for this upgrade has been consistently voiced, especially by the National Road Safety Authority.
However, the question remains: Why has this plea not been prioritized? Are lives of less concern? The answer is not so simple. Authorities have witnessed the devastation first-hand and made grand assurances, only to let them fade. Do our leaders truly care? As we approach the 2024 election, it’s essential to understand the political parties’ strategies for the Accra-Kumasi highway’s dualization. Do these deaths matter to us, or are they simply statistics?
What is the current government’s plan to address this issue? As I traverse the highway, anxiety grips me – a sentiment not shared by some government officials who use convoys to avoid oncoming traffic, as the majority of them appear to travel by air.
Will you stand idly by as we continue to perish? If you fail to recognize the urgency of addressing the Accra-Kumasi highway and related road crash challenges, can you claim to care? It’s a sombre reflection on our society.
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The writer Edward Oppong Marfo is Citi TV/FM’s Middle-Belt Bureau Chief.