Part I juxtaposed the procedure of acquiring driving licenses in Ghana and the UK. This Part will examine driving standards in Ghana and the UK.
The insurance companies in Ghana are partly to blame for the poor driving standards in Ghana. In the UK for instance, motor insurance premiums are not fixed like the price of an item at say, Melcom, as is the case in Ghana.
In the UK, several factors are taken into account in order to arrive at the premium. Such factors include the make and model of the vehicle, engine capacity, age of the vehicle, age of the proposer, type of license held by the proposer (learner license or full license), how long the license has been held, previous motoring offences like driving while over the permissible alcohol limit or while under the influence of drugs, over-speeding and whether the proposer has been involved in an accident in past, and if yes, was he the one at fault or the other party(s). The answers to these questions will determine the premium in the end. Any false answers automatically invalidate the policy.
Basically, the experienced and safe driver usually end up paying less premium than the inexperienced and dangerous driver. Undoubtedly, the insurance companies in the UK play a huge role in promoting safe driving on UK roads.
The next contributory factor to the carnage on our roads is in respect of enforcement of driving standards.
In the UK, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is responsible for improving road safety. It conducts driving tests, approves instructors, oversees roadworthiness tests, vehicle recalls, and enforces vehicle safety standards for lorries and buses. This frees up the DVLA to concentrate on maintaining driver and vehicle records, issuing driving licenses, registering vehicles, collecting Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) and managing vehicle tax.
The nearest to the DVSA in Ghana is the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), whose main object is to reduce the incidence of road traffic crashes, fatalities and injuries. One wonders whether the NRSA is really working towards achieving its main objective, since they appear to be missing in action, except the occasional appeal to motorists to drive with caution following serious accidents. Compared to the UK DVSA, the NRSA of Ghana appears to be a talk shop.
The practice of driving too close to the vehicle in front when preparing to overtake, is far below the standard expected of the qualified experienced driver and as such, is another major cause of accidents on our roads.
To undertake a safe overtaking, one ought to give a reasonable gap of say, hundred meters to the target vehicle in front. This will provide one with a clear view of the road ahead without necessarily having to swing out dangerously to look ahead as is the case when one is driving too close to the target vehicle.
When it is safe to overtake, in the case of manual transmission gearbox vehicles, one must drop to a gear that will provide maximum pulling power to overtake in a flash before any oncoming traffic appears. In respect of automatic transmission gearbox vehicles, one must kick-down on the accelerator (gas pedal) firmly, and the vehicle itself will automatically drop to the required gear to provide maximum pulling power for safe and quicker overtaking.
Coupled with the above is blind overtaking. This is where some drivers follow the lead vehicle in an overtaking manoeuvre blindly. The lead vehicle driver has studied the traffic ahead and arrived at the conclusion that a safe overtaking is possible. Then a driver behind the lead vehicle who cannot possibly see ahead to make an informed judgment, follows the lead vehicle without having made any observation of oncoming traffic. This can only be described as a suicide mission!
Surprisingly, another factor responsible for accidents on our roads is navigating through potholes. It defies logic that a driver will prefer a head on collision to slowing down and manoeuvring through a pothole on their way or going through the pothole with speed if there is no chance of slowing down and damaging a few parts under the vehicle.
It makes sense to replace a vehicle ball joint or lower arm than going head-to-head with oncoming traffic and becoming part of the NRSA annual statistics on road crashes. Even a mentally unstable person wouldn’t do that, but unfortunately, for reasons only known to them, some drivers on Ghana roads see a head on collision to be much safer than driving through potholes. Unbelievable, but that’s the reality on the ground!
Reasonable drivers are advised that when a driver on a suicide mission confronts them on the Highway, please don’t flash them with your vehicle headlights, since the offending driver cannot carry his vehicle on his head and clear off the road in order to make way for you. You, the reasonable driver has seconds to make a life-saving decision.
Respect for zebra crossings appears not be a concern for the NRSA and the Police in Ghana. The authorities are largely to blame for the faded zebra crossings dotted across the country for their use of cheap white paint to designate zebra crossings which easily fade away, thereby obscuring most zebra crossings.
That little chap waiting by the roadside to cross to the other side of the road and head to school or home, could be your child; that elderly person waiting to cross the road could either be your mum or dad, or consider yourself in old age waiting to cross the road, so please let’s give way to them when it is safe to do so.
In the UK, when complaints are received by the authorities that motorists don’t respect a particular zebra crossing, decoys are usually stationed near the zebra crossing concerned to cross the road intermittently in order to apprehend offending drivers and apply the necessary sanctions.
In Ghana, where a zebra crossing is not respected, Police Officers or Traffic Wardens are usually stationed there to stop traffic and allow pedestrians to cross. What is the essence of wasting public funds to designate the zebra crossing?
Some taxi drivers in Winneba were recently recruited to drive tipper trucks by private tipper truck owners who are sub-contractors to the main contractor working on the Winneba stretch of the Accra – Cape Coast Road.
The only requirement was for the applicants to upgrade their licenses from C to D. It is not surprising that most of these taxi drivers drive the tipper trucks like taxis. The speed at which some of them travel in the Winneba township and on the road under construction is beyond the reasonable man’s imagination. It is a disaster in the making!
In the UK, the holder of a Class C+E (articulator truck license) who wish to drive fuel tankers MUST undergo further training (hazardous goods driver certification, commonly referred to as ADR, thus European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road) and pass both the theory and practical tests before an ADR license is issued, which then entitles one to drive a fuel tanker.
What is the situation like in Ghana? No wonder fuel tankers are constantly overturning on our roads and catching fire. Throughout my close to fifteen-year stay in the UK, not once was it reported anywhere that a fuel tanker overturned and caught fire.
In addition, there is a mandatory legal requirement for professional HGV and bus drivers to complete 35 hours of periodic training every five years to ensure that standards are not compromised on the roads. This is commonly referred to as Driver CPC Training.
Without proof of having taken the core courses and passed, one is automatically disqualified from driving trucks and buses.
It appears our lives don’t matter in this country, hence no one cares to put in measures to protect you and I.
Part III loading…..
Alhassan Salifu Bawah
(son of an upright peasant farmer?