The Herald Ghana: Streetlights and road accidents

Road accident is still one of the major causes of avoidable deaths in this country, according to data compiled by the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service; road accidents have killed 1,141people in the first six months of this year.

The main factors influencing the carnage on our roads are, the bad natures of the roads, reckless driving, abandoned broken down vehicles, lack of streetlights and non-functioning street lights.

Of the factors mentioned above lack of or non-functioning streetlights is the one that could easily be fixed with breaking an arm and a leg.

Every month, consumers' electricity pay for street light maintenance, yet most of the streetlights in the city are always off.

The inconvenience road users who ply Tetteh Quarshie roundabout, through to Legon, Madina, all the way to Adentan, can only be imagined.

The highway in question is among the busiest highways in the country as they link the Central business district to those parts of the city.The highway will paints a picture of the horror commuters have to endure in order to get to their destinations.

Driving on that stretch at night is usually very difficult, visibility is a major problem, because the nicely erected streetlights, have become decorative piece, because they do not serve the purpose for which they were installed.

With the stretch in such good state, when the risky driving habits of the average Ghanaian driver is added, it is unimaginable in the opinion of this newspaper, why authorities have turned a blind eye to this problem, which pose a danger to road users.

Poor maintenance culture, has often been cited as a major cause of the country's high rate of traffic fatalities.There is supposed to be a department under the ministry of Roads and Highways, responsible for installation and maintenance of streetlights, if for whatever reason the department is not living up to expectation, the government should sublet that operation to a private company, as has been done with the road toll.