Heart-wrenching reports from the Central Region suggest that on Friday, June 21, 2024 at about 11pm, an adult, supposedly created in the image of God was half-asleep while driving a truck on the Winneba-Kasoa road and drove into a police check point grinding to death a uniformed policeman on official duty.
This is evil to say the least if it turns out to be true that the driver was indeed sleeping behind the wheels of a truck in motion. Common sense and a human conscience would have made him park to take a nap if indeed he was truly tired. Perhaps he lacks both.
This driver would not be alone among the number of drivers who lack both common sense and a human conscience.
The ever rising indiscipline on the roads and the guts with which many drivers flout road traffic regulations these days is scary.
As though a principality of death has descended from a high place to possess and commission them to compete in a macabre dance on our roads.
The death of this policeman is agonizing to say the least. Why should a Ghanaian who left home to serve his country as a policeman be killed in such a senseless style?
Would the death of this policeman be a wakeup call on us as a society? Or would it be just another life gone and reported as one of the several death on our roads that are reported as data and statistics?
In the first quarter of this year, the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) reported that there has been an increase in the number of road crashes that happened in the months of January and February 2024 as compared to the previous year.
In March, the NRSA disclosed that 2,260 road crashes were reported involving 3,910 vehicles, with 369 fatalities, 2,552 injuries and 381 pedestrian knockdowns in the months of January and February alone this year.
Meanwhile the same months of January and February on 2023, 2,249 cases were recorded involving 3,857 vehicles. 330 persons were killed, while 2,502 persons were injured and 382 pedestrian knockdowns were also recorded.
A good number of these accidents and deaths are attributed to indiscipline on the part of drivers.
The continuous indiscipline on the roads must stop. The drivers who have an allergy for obeying road traffic regulations should be made to face the law and taken off the roads because they are nothing but a bunch of licensed murderers behind wheels.
The responsibility lies with every road user, every passenger and every motorist. It is not a task that should be limited to the Ghana Police Service alone.
As a society we ought to embark on a concerted effort to speak against the menace and have the courage to call irresponsible drivers to order.
The nonsense must stop.
