|
| Human, Vehicular Traffic And All |
12/21/2006 |
|
General News of Thursday, 21 December 2006
Human, Vehicular Traffic And All
Around this time of the year, very few people want to take a casual stroll around town. In the business district of Accra a 10-minute walk could last forever.
There is an endless train of human bodies pressing against each other. With sweat dribbling down brows, both shoppers and sellers try to get good bargains for the Christmas and New Year celebrations.
“Christmas is magical. All this hell for a single day,” one shopper says as his frown dissolves into a wry smile. There is a lot to worry about in town besides the human traffic.
There is also vehicular traffic; no road leads anywhere and drivers honk their horns in a cacophonous medley. “These are difficult times for us,” Ameyaw, a trotro driver who operates at the CMB lorry station in Accra, says.
“We are not making as much money as one would have expected because of the traffic situation in town. Comparatively we make better “sales” during the Easter. Our rates are fixed unlike the taxi drivers who operate sometimes without fixed rates. They are making the money,” Ameyaw adds.
However, that is a claim many taxi drivers would quickly dismiss. “That is not true. We are worse off now. Most people are going for trotro because of the high cost of fuel. It is very difficult to make good “sales”.
The police personnel have realised that and thus tended to frustrate the trotro drivers more. We have very little to offer them,” Kwabena, a taxi driver based in Accra, says.
The reality is that most people are doing more walking and boarding trotro. “It doesn’t make so much sense to board a taxi around this period, when it is likely that you are going to end up in traffic. It is more economical to pick a trotro,” Michael argues.
The Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service, as expected, has been very busy on the roads not only controlling and managing traffic but also with an extensive education campaign.
Stickers sponsored by the State Insurance Company are being distributed to passengers as part of the education drive. One sticker being distributed to passengers and drivers clearly states that “Do not BRIBE Police Officer. He is around to ensure your safety”.
This is one challenge drivers face. Paying bribe to the police officer appears to be the easy way out. The drivers are as culpable as the police officers.
However, these challenges do not seem to have affected the zeal with which the MTTU has embarked on the drive to make our roads safer, especially for the Yuletide.
“Statistics of accidents for the first 10-month of the year indicate that there has been a reduction in accidents compared to the same period for last year, although the death rate has gone up by five per cent,” reveals the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Victor Tandoh, the Commanding Officer of the MTTU.
In 2005, there were 9665 accidents while in 2006, 9156 accidents were recorded and that was an absolute decrease of 509 representing 5.2 per cent.
The number of people who sustained injuries through such accidents also decreased from 7925 to 5601, which represents an absolute difference of 2324 (29 per cent).
Since the beginning of the year, the MTTU has been to lorry stations in the country to organise driver educational programmes using drama troupes and speeches to educate drivers and other stakeholders like passengers on the need to collaborate with the police to ensure safety on our roads.
For many children fire crackers, popularly known as ‘knockouts’, have become a source of joy of Christmas celebrations. “I cannot imagine a Christmas without the noise from fire crackers.
I am looking forward feverishly toward 24th and 31st nights,” Kofi, 10, says excitedly. Indeed, to many children Christmas is also “a feast of noise”. However, the Acting Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service, DSP Kwesi Ofori, warns that they could be at the wrong side of the law.
Under Executive Instrument EI 21, enacted on September 9, 1999, the manufacture, possession or carrying of explosives like fire crackers, display shells, artillery shells and ball and canister shells are prohibited.
However, as DSP Ofori concedes, the Police have been quite lax over the years in enforcing such provisions largely because of commitment to other pressing issues such as the fight against armed robbery.
“We are advising parents to prevent their children from using such explosives. They must help us to get these fire crackers out of town,” he says.
Clearly, there are serious threats that the police have to deal with and this makes such a call justifiable. According to DSP Ofori, the police are on the alert to fight crime. “Morale is high and the personnel are very focussed,” he declares confidently.
He adds that the police have intensified day and night patrols and administration staff have been cut down to increase the number of personnel in the streets.
Despite these efforts, DSP Ofori stressed that there was the need for members of the public to consciously act to protect themselves from criminals.
Story by Daniel Nkrumah
Source:
Graphic
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
