Ghana records an average of 10-15% road crashes annually. This attributed to poor road infrastructure, the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) has observed. Transport experts are disturbed by the lack of markings on major roads across the country and in the capital, an aging problem exposing motorists and pedestrians to accidents. The NRSA says any
The post Transport experts fear possible increase in road crashes due to absence of road markings first appeared on 3News.
Ghana records an average of 10-15% road crashes annually.
This attributed to poor road infrastructure, the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) has observed.
Transport experts are disturbed by the lack of markings on major roads across the country and in the capital, an aging problem exposing motorists and pedestrians to accidents.
The NRSA says any delay in addressing the issue of faded markings could escalate preventable crashes.
The La Beach Road, for instance, is an important route that connects Accra to Tema through Osu, La, Teshie, Nungua and Sakumono.
Read also:
Ghana’s faded road markings: Danger in waiting
It also serves as a major alternative route to the Accra-Tema motorway, but it lacks markings and proper pedestrian and zebra crossings.
The National Road 4 (N4)and the Liberation Road are no exception to this, emphasising the point that the maintenance of road markings on critical roads has been poor.
“When the markings appropriated for the pedestrian are missing, the pedestrian may not know the safest place to cross [the road] and so they can cross at any place, increasing their risk on the road to crashes.”
“It contributes to the high pedestrian knockdowns in our statistics. It [lack of road markings] creates less visibility for the drivers,” Public Relations Officer of the NRSA, Pearl Sateckla, told TV3.
Standard practice requires that these markings are repainted at least every two years, but the situation has always been different.
“The road markings are supposed to last for about two years and so usually when road construction takes place, it is part of the contract – they do it as part of the road makeup. But over the 24-month period, they fade out,” Transport consultant, Marshall Mensah Kwadzo Bobobee, said.
Pedestrian deaths account for nearly 36 percent of all road traffic accidents, with road infrastructure contributing 10 to 15 percent of all road crashes yearly.
This is the worry of the National Road Safety Authority which fears the problem could escalate.
At night or when it rains, these road marking are virtually invisible, and it is even deadlier in areas where there are non-functioning streetlights.
It is a raging public concern that needs urgent attention.
“The absence of road markings on the road makes it very difficult for drivers to stay in their lanes. We call something lane discipline – it has to do with you driving in your lane.”
“Assuming you are on a two-way traffic, you are supposed to maintain your lane and leave the other for the oncoming vehicle,” Bobobee added.
Some roads have reflectors to aid driving, even though the markings are faded.
Transport experts and the Road Safety Authority agree there must be an urgent action.
“I hope that a little more political will may go a long way to ensure that our roads are safer because most of the crashes are preventable, especially the ones that the roads contribute to,” Peal Sateckla noted.
Transport consultant Marshall Bobobee believes “it is about time we took our road maintenance seriously because if we don’t re-mark the roads after two years as experts say, the dangers are a lot, and we are all road users.”
“It doesn’t matter whether you are driving today, or you are walking or you are riding.”
With the markings absent, drivers may miss zebra crossings, switch lanes wrongly and crash pedestrians.
A raging concern for adequate investment towards sustainable road infrastructure across the country.
The post Transport experts fear possible increase in road crashes due to absence of road markings first appeared on 3News.
