Part V considered the contributions of speed ramps, motorways, and warning signs to the carnage on our roads.
Part VI will take a microscopic view of the contributions of vehicle maintenance, LED headlights, other vehicle lights, and enforcement to the mayhem on our roads.
There is a general lack of culture of maintenance in developing economies like Ghana, as such, it is not surprising that many motorists in Ghana don’t see the need to keep their vehicles in shipshape.
To compound the woes of motorists who are ready and willing to keep their vehicles in shipshape, there stands in their way, the daunting task of getting mechanics with the requisite skills, knowledge and equipment to undertake the repairs. Dealerships like Japan Motors, Silver Star and Nissan Auto Parts, are the preserve of multinational corporations and some State entities.
Most of the roadside mechanics in Ghana are specialists in trial and error. They can’t carry out proper diagnosis of most vehicles’ mechanical faults, and they have no knowledge whatsoever about vehicle part numbers. Most often, a simple mechanical malfunction that should cost a motorist a few hundred Ghana Cedis, usually end up costing the motorist a fortune and needless loss of use of his vehicle for much longer period than necessary.
Coupled with the above is the issue of substandard vehicle parts in the market, especially at Abossey Okai. Most of the car batteries sold at Abossey Okai hardly last beyond three (3) months. A greater percentage of the car parts sold in Ghana are not made by the respective vehicle manufacturers, hence it is very difficult to get the best out of most vehicles. Such fake parts contribute greatly to accidents. What will be the likely outcome of a vehicle having defective brakes arising out of fake brake pads?
In the UK in particular and the European Union (EU) in general, consumers are protected from substandard and dangerous products through a comprehensive framework that mandates safety standards, enforces strict market surveillance, and empower consumers with rights to remedies.
Currently, Ghana does not have a single comprehensive Consumer Protection Act passed into law. However, a dedicated Consumer Protection Bill is in the final stages in Parliament, aiming to establish a Consumer Protection Authority (CPA) to combat unfair trading, misleading advertising, and unsafe products.
At present, consumer rights in Ghana are protected through a fragmented system of regulations overseen by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), and the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), which appear to be toothless bull dogs.
These quangos (FDA, GSA, etc) occasionally strikes at traditional medicinal products, tasty tomatoes, baby diapers, unlucky filling stations, etc., for the mere sake of getting media publicity, but sees absolutely NOTHING wrong with the devastating effects of substandard vehicle parts and unsafe alterations of trucks to add multiple axles, which ultimately results in accidents, and by extension, the maiming and killing of the very people whose tax money is used to pay their wages and salaries. A direct slap on the face of the taxpayer!
The Police are also partly to blame for the decay on our roads. Most often when the Police stop vehicles for routine checks, they are more interested in the validity of insurance and roadworthiness certificates, and NOT the physical roadworthy condition of the vehicle parked right in front of their eyes.
One will see vehicles without headlamps, no parking lights, some wheels completely missing from the axles, bald tyres, with some vehicles displaying the features of a carcass that has been partly eaten by dogs; which under normal circumstances should be deemed scrap material, but surprisingly making it past Police checkpoints with ease, while vehicles in mint condition are detained unnecessarily.
In the UK, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), is responsible for improving road safety by ensuring that drivers and vehicles meet high safety and environmental standards. One of the Agency’s core functions includes overseeing the roadworthiness of commercial vehicles. This is enforced to the letter without fear or favour!
One wonders in which ways if any, that the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) contributes to making our roads safer, apart from issuing non-binding statements following fatal road traffic accidents.
Illegal LED headlights and other similar illegal vehicle lights are also a major contributor to accidents on our roads since they blind the vision of other motorists.
Why the Police will stand aloof and allow vehicles with LED headlights to drive past them, appear more unreasonable than Wednesbury Unreasonableness [Associated Provincial Picture Houses Ltd v Wednesbury Corporation (1948) 1 KB].
Other killer vehicle lights on the road are construction site/farm headlights that are fitted just above the front windscreen of some trucks. These lights are used ONLY on construction sites or farms in Europe at night, and NOT on the highway.
What do we see in Ghana? Some trucks that are fitted with these lights from the country of origin but imported into Ghana, use these lights on the highway blinding other motorists and causing needless accidents, and the law enforcers appear to be bystanders.
Another killer vehicle light is the rear work light or coupling light. This light is fitted at the rear of an articulator truck unit (tractor/head) to aid in connecting the suzies (air lines/electrics) at night. After hooking up the unit to the trailer and following connection of the suzies, this light MUST be switched off to avoid blinding other motorists on the highway.
In the UK, this light automatically goes off in some vehicles when the vehicle is in motion. In companies like Tesco (the biggest supermarket in the UK), the security will not allow an articulator truck to exit the company’s premises with the coupling lights on. And this is just a private company trying to ensure safety on the roads.
In Ghana, most articulator trucks operators have turned these coupling lights into additional lights. One will be driving at night behind an articulator truck with bright lights facing the rear that blinds you. This amounts to ignorance of the highest order! And the Police see nothing wrong with this? How?
The solution to all these illegal and killer lights is very simple. Any vehicle with these murderous lights that approaches a Police checkpoint at night is detained overnight and those lights removed and replaced at the checkpoint the next day at the expense of the motorist. Some motorcycles and tricycles are also fitted with these abusive lights; hence they should face a similar fate.
The abuse of hazard lights is another cause of accidents on our roads. These are also known as hazard warning flashers or emergency lights and are a safety feature on vehicles that cause all four turning signals to blink simultaneously. These are activated to inform other drivers that one’s vehicle is in an emergency situation, or the vehicle constitutes a temporary obstruction to traffic.
In Ghana, some motorists take hazard lights as a source of entertainment, so they put them on from the start of a journey to the end. Now if a motorist hazard light is on and the motorist intends to turn left, how does he communicate that intention to other motorists by way of signaling left? The Police are also guilty of this, since most often, marked Police vehicles are seen driving around with their hazard lights on. What then is the purpose of the blue flashing lights and the sirens?
Part VII loading …..
Alhassan Salifu Bawah
(son of an upright peasant farmer)