The accident which claimed the lives of nine persons said to be students of the University of Education, Winneba last week at Asuboi offers us important lessons about our drivers.
The accident took place on a dualised highway at a time there is a call for the dualisation of our highways because that would eliminate road mishaps.
It is important noting that even when our commercial drivers do not adhere to road traffic regulations and take mandatory rests after driving beyond a certain number of hours, accidents will continue to feature on our highways.
We are yet to be on top of the task of ensuring safety on our highways.
We have recorded too many accidents on our roads and beginning to feel helpless. Many interventions have been applied with a view to stopping the carnage on our roads to no avail.
What else can we do especially now that government is turning its attention to the dualisation of our roads as a solution?
We have composed as many editorials as the number of fatal accidents recorded on our highways. The National Road Safety Authority and other agencies mandated to ensure safety on our roads have not stopped executing their duties. In spite of these however, we continue to record accidents of the kind which occurred at Asuboi.
We may have to look for alternative solutions to this life-snuffer. We once called for a national conversation but this is yet to attract the kind of resonance to even effect attitudinal changes on the part of commercial drivers.
It would appear that most of these accidents are caused by commercial drivers. The need for the relevant authorities to tackle the problem from that angle should not be ignored.
It is our stance that the relevant authorities should deal with the Ghana Private Roads Transport Union (GPRTU) and other road transport bodies in the country as a means of addressing the seeming incessant accidents.
Technology in some parts of the world have made it possible to monitor the number of hours spent driving. The acquisition of such gadgets is beyond in this country. Such acquisition and working in concert with the road transport bodies would go a long way in reducing to the barest minimum accidents on our highways.
The loss of nine lives, students for that matter, is a terrible blow not only to the bereaved families but to the country as a whole.
The tag of an accident-prone country we are wearing currently should shed, so that lives would be preserved.