The state of Ghana roads, road users and all things bad 

Well I have finally decided to see if there is a consensus of opinion in Ghana about the state of the roads.  This is my first blog, so please excuse the amatursim.

I generally drive  between Tema and Accra early every morning and a lot  in-and-around Greater Accra. The standard of the roads, the cars and the driving is shocking with no apparent acknowledgement from the government that this is a major issue in Ghana in terms of both economic loss as well as safety. 

I will not vent everything in this first blog but will tackle individual issues I witness every day and will use this to see if we can start a real movement of opinion to correct this.

So lets start:

Humps in the Road! Ghana is obsessed with this incredibly inefficient means of speed control.  I wont list every road that has humps as they appear to be created by anyone who has a shovel.  Some are put in by local councils and authorities, others by distressed villagers, some made from old mooring rope by disgruntled business owners and all of them a complete nuisance to any vehicle owner. 

The ironic thing is that some road humps are on roads that are already so full of potholes that it is impossible to go at any speed anyway. But no, if there is a length of road that is more than 50m without a something to slow you down - up pops a road hump over night and ready to send you into orbit the next morning. Take the new humps put on the high street in Tarkwa - why? The road is already destroyed. And to add insult to injury  the toll booth to the south of Tarkwa, where they dutifully collect your money and do nothing to repair the road, is near impassable, actually at the toll booth. One would have thought that if nothing else this area could be maintained in good order. Disgraceful.

Now, let me make it absolutely clear, I am all in favour of speed controls as the standard of driving in Ghana is so atrocious (see a later blog on this subject) that something has to be done, but not road humps.

I am sure the government has not done a study of the impact that these humps have on the economy and I am convinced that if they were removed we could add at least 0.5%   - 1% to the GDP.

Lets look at all the things that are wrong:-

• Massive increase in fuel consumption due to constant acceleration and breaking.
• Huge amounts of pollution caused, 50% of which is not from the exhaust  but from the toxic particles thrown out from the break pads and tires every time you break.  This is ingested by road side vendors, children and villages through which these roads go and the humps are supposed to protect. So we may be slowing down the traffic but we are still killing the people.
• Damage to car suspension - cost to repair the damage. I must have to replace my shock absorbers every year and have the suspension tightened up every month. In Europe you would not expect to replace shocks in the first 10 years of the car. The additional fuel consumption and damage to the car all has a knock on effect to the cost of getting to work and hence the wages needed to cover this unnecessary wastage, putting pressure on the economy etc.
• Time spent to get to and fro from work. On bad days a combination of all the delays including road humps takes me more than two hours on a journey that if the road were free, would take me half an hour. So this is two hours off my life, off work and two hours not being put to good use. Multiply this by everyone in a similar situation (most of us) and you will soon see why the impact on the GDP is so significant.
• Some humps are so badly made and viscous that they rip up tyres and send shudders through everyone in the car. - leading to back problems and associated medical issues. 
• Humps also slow down emergency services response times.

There are plenty of alternative solutions to road humps but I never see any of these being introduced, either as experiments or to actually eradicate the scourge of humps.  

• Proper legislation and legal means to prosecute speeding offences.
• Visual interactive road signs that show the speed of the car. Some of these use smiley or scowled faces and are most effective, particularly if you have children in the car! 
• Overhead average speed cameras & prosecution.
• When building new roads, ensuring that villages are bye-passed and also bye-pass villages in road upgrades.
• Completely overhaul the driving test requirements and significantly increase driving skills.

The list is endless and I will leave you with a  good example of all that is wrong with humps.

A road in Ashaley Botwe leading to School Junction has, albeit very slowly, been  upgraded and a fantastic road it is. But I predicted that within six months there would be road humps appearing. Well, I was correct. The road is now littered with very vicious nasty humps making it as slow to proceed as before it was repaired.  What a wasted opportunity to experiment with new and modern means of traffic control.   

Action. - Ban road humps everywhere and replace with modern traffic control systems! 

Thanks for reading. Toodle-loo.

Kofi Mac