Death tow and the carnage experienced weekly on the N1 highway in the Laspamas vicinity is much to be investigated. I share the thoughts put forth by Kwame Yeboah as was observed on the N1 highway in Accra Ghana. Authorities must be up and be doing to give us a better Ghana.
Credit: unknown
SAD MOMENTS DUE TO UNRESPONSIVE LEADERSHIP by Kwame Yeboah
On the 18th of June 2017 circa 22:00 GMT on the N1 at Lapaz, Accra exactly at the traffic lights in front of Laspamas Restaurant (as I know), one man who had gone to buy food and was crossing the road was knocked down and his whole body was shattered into parts. He was crossing at a time when the green lights came on for cars moving in the Kasoa – Tetteh Quarshie Interchange direction.
I was returning from the thanksgiving service for the successful burial of a cousin at Tabora, a suburb around Lapaz, Accra and seeing another horrific episode leading to the death of yet another soul due to the negligence of our authorities gave me a sleepless night when I arrived at my destination.
In a conversation in the car in which I was traveling, I got to know it is almost a daily ritual and many lives have been claimed at the said location. What I heard from the many other passengers who also witnessed the incident were confirmed by some colleagues. Questions of what could be the problem and the solutions needed rolled continuously in my mind. I learned there have even been documentaries that ascribed the blame on pedestrians who are not willing to use the overhead/footbridge and walkway that has been provided about 500 meters away from the action point. I knew if that was actually the original plan, then I would not blame people who don’t use it because it would not make sense to walk almost about 1000 meters just to cross a stretch less than 100 meters. Many people in a hurry will definitely fall a prey to such temptation.
The streets at Okponglo, near the University of Ghana, is similar to what is laid at the death-prone street at Lapas except that it is short by one single lane. If that street is not causing many such deaths, why should the one at Lapaz be considered an acceptable ritual? With the little I have seen from some of the international travels I have made, provisions are made for pedestrians to cross at such busy places with the aid of pedestrian traffic lights synchronized with what the vehicular traffic uses. I, therefore, wondered why such could not be fixed at Lapaz but rather authorities expect pedestrians to use the afterthought bridge which in my view is a waste of resources if erecting it was to solve the problem I am describing. I, therefore, took particular interest in the design at Okponglo and
I, therefore, took particular interest in the design at Okponglo and realized that the construction incorporated a pedestrian traffic light system which allows people to cross just as vehicles also have their turn. Such is wise.
At Lapaz, I saw the pedestrian traffic lights exist but not functioning and from the look of things, the problem might have occurred at a long time ago. What is worse is that the one in the middle pavement of the road is broken and not fixed. This is where most people gather like the Israelites in front of the Red Sea gazing on when a little distance between them and oncoming cars could be calculated from their location to enable them to run to cross. That in my view is unacceptable and not anywhere than the capital city of the country.
What is preventing the authorities from fixing these light? Do they value the lives of individuals lost daily on that stretch of road? Or we rather want to pride ourselves with the increasing number of deaths on our road? Statistics that bring nothing but sorrow in the homes of many?
I wish that people we put at the helm of affairs serve the nation to make it safe but not use the authority given them to threaten people and to show them where power lies. When I was investigating the problem on my own accord and to prove a point, one policeman who thought my pictures were gathering evidence of his ill extortion of money from commercial commuters came to me and seized my phone that he was going to lock me for taking pictures without approval. As much as I needed consent from individuals who might appear in the pictures, the show of power to me even after explaining the motive of what I was doing was needless. If that is his routine duty post and he has not been able to get that traffic menace fix all these years but he is quick to go and lock a citizen for taking pictures of a spoilt traffic light, then we have a long way to go as a nation. I am not surprised the call by the president for all of us to be responsible citizens might not see the light of day.
Our authorities should not rest till the citizens are safe. The sad moments in the homes of many due to some negligence on fixing structures on our road is haunting and we don’t deserve it as a nation. We will do our part but please serve us and not only loot. A concerned citizen.
Video- Lapas N1 deaths-Traffic Light Explored
Audio when a police man intercepted the process