The statistics of twenty three dead and many others injured in road mishaps both within two days and on the same stretch of highway that links the North and the South calls for rethink of road safety in this country.
Are we going to witness the usual Xmas carnage on our highways so many lives having been already lost this year?
We pray that is not going to be the case.
A synchronized road safety operation by the Police Motor Transport and Traffic Department (MTTD), the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) and the Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA)Â and backed by law is necessary to stop the carnage. It has become too crazy for comfort.
The aforementioned agencies currently work independent of the other and this does not augur well for the efficient management of road safety.
If action is not taken now the country could be heading for its worst year in terms of road fatalities.
Let the necessary legislation be enacted to protect lives on our highways.
The country woke up yesterday to the news about the death of seventeen persons most of them kids on the  Offinso and Abofour Forest stretch of the Kumasi to the Northern sector highway in the Ashanti Region. The number of the dead has raised the statistics of fatalities further this year.
As if that was not enough, news about the burning to death of some six persons in a bus at Akumadan came hitting the country yesterday.
Some factors are common to both accidents. Fatigue appeared to be prominent the accidents having taken place after midnight and close to dawn.
What has happened to the proposal that each commercial bus on long journeys should have two drivers each taking their turns at the steering wheels?
In the Akumadan accident the bus reportedly drove into a stationary vehicle and instantly caught fire whereas in the other one veered into the path of the other.
Both scenarios are the usual causes of accidents across the country’s highways yet no effective means of obviating them has been unfolded.
When at all shall we confine the spate of fatal accidents to history? It is worrying that efforts put in so far have not yielded much in terms of abated accidents.
Coincidentally the accident occurred shortly after the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, expressed concern about the rate of indiscipline on our roads and the accompanying accidents.
As a goodwill ambassador for the NRSA he has promised to push hard the road safety agenda of the appointment bestowed upon him.
This should be the umpteenth time that we are writing about the spate of road accidents in the country.
We are told that Ghana ranks among the countries with high road accident fatalities in the world a rank which should not elicit commendation but rather condemnation.
Traveling at night in this country is no longer something to savour because of the dangers involved most of the accidents occurring at night or dawn.
Alcoholic beverages continue to be sold at lorry stations, drivers of commercial vehicles can drive for as long as they wish fatigue notwithstanding.
In the face of accidents such as we are writing about now there would as usual be discussions on the airwaves and after a few days the chapter is closed.
Shouldn’t we take another look at the quality of persons we call commercial drivers? Shouldn’t we take another look at night time driving on our highways? There are a lot we can do to minimize the bloodshed on our roads or even stop it.
Paradoxically the asphalted roads are not spared the crazy carnages.