Residents of Mireku-krom, a farming community in the Kwahu South Municipality of the Eastern Region are appealing to government to as a matter of urgency construct speed ramps to halt carnages on their roads.
Narrating their frustrations to Angel FM, the Odikro, Nana Appiah, who double as Akroma Komfour, said there have been numerous cases of crashes recorded in the community involving children.
“About two weeks ago two people were knocked down by speeding vehicles and the rate at which our animals are also dying as a result of the speeding is very disturbing” he said.
A parent who touched on the crashes involving children said it is due to the fact that they have to cross from one side of the road to the other in quest to attend to the needs of their respective families.
“When they are going out, for example to fetch water for the household, we are restless because we do not know what will happen to them. Sometimes we have to go with them to ensure their safety.”
A driver in the area, helping the media better appreciate the situation cited a double carriageway saying “the way cars speed when moving from Ofankor to Tifa Junction, that is the same way drivers who ply this route speed.”
“Drawing closer to this community is a road sign indicating driving speed limit of 40 km/h, and there is a curve before you get into the community, but what we see here is not 50 nor 60, but over. Sometimes you are not able to ascertain whether passengers are in the vehicles because of the speed at which they drive past this place,” he added.
That said, data from the Ministry of Transport for the first nine months of the year 2021 shows that some 2,126 commuters were killed in road crashes, while 11,659 people also sustained various degrees of injuries within same period.
The crashes were reported to have been caused by the following: drunk driving, constituting some 10% of carnages; over-speeding, constituting about 50% of them; poor driving skills which is considered a major cause; driving while talking on mobile phone.
Other factors mentioned were: gross indiscipline on the roads; broken-down vehicles on the roads; driving on worn/second-hand tires; the unworthiness of some cars on the roads; over-loading of vehicles beyond their expected gross weights.
Fatigue driving among long-distance drivers, the poor nature of some of the roads in the country, disregard for traffic regulations and non-existent road markings and signs were not excluded from the list of causative factors.
The residents of Mireku-Krom and leaders have therefore called on Ghana Road Safety Authority, the Feeder Roads Department, the Municipal Chief Executive of the area Emmanuel Atta Ofori Senior and the Member of Parliament Davis Opoku Ansah (OPK) to as a matter of urgency construct the ramps to save the lives of the people since lives are very precious.
Meanwhile they have not withheld their appreciation to the government for efforts made which have resulted in the construction of the road to ameliorate the ordeals the farmers go through to convey their farm produce to various destinations for sales and marketing.
