The Legal Resources Centre (LRC) has partnered with road safety experts to develop a strategy to end Ghana’s notorious speed culture, which is responsible for over 39 per cent of road crash fatalities nationwide.
The Centre is concerned by the alarming number of fatalities and injuries on Ghanaian roads every year, primarily due to the lack of effective speed management and control measures coupled with other behavioural risk factors.
In response, the LRC has launched a speed management project titled, “Supporting advocacy interventions towards the passage into law of the Reviewed Road Traffic Act and the development of standards on motorcycle helmets.” It spans from June 2024 to December 2025.
Addressing participants, Ms Daphne Lariba Nabila, the Executive Director of LRC, explained that the project, with funding support from the Global Road Safety Partnership, aimed to contribute towards ongoing interventions to ensure good road safety practices.
She said the Centre had initiated advocacy for the development of standards on motorcycle helmets that were suitable for Ghana’s conditions.
Ms. Nabila stated that “Ghana currently does not have standards developed for motorcycle helmets and as a result, there is a wide range of helmets available on the market without standards.”
“Although helmet use is mandatory for both the rider and pillion passenger, there are no helmet quality standards provided in the current Road Traffic Regulations, 2012 (L.I. 2180),” she added.
She indicated that the L.I.2180 was currently under review after being withdrawn from Parliament for various reasons, including granting Members of Parliament, Judges, and Ministers exclusive privilege to use sirens and exempt them from speed limits while performing their official duties.
Overall, the project aims at supporting the Ministry of Transport and NRSA to amend the Road Regulations 2012 (L.I. 2180), and the Road Traffic Act 2004 (Act 683) with a focus on speed.
The LRC is supporting these bodies and the Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority as well as the Ghana Standards Authority to develop standards on motorcycle helmets.
Ms Nabila described the withdrawal of the legislative instrument from parliament as an opportunity for a broader engagement with stakeholders to iron out teething issues that prevented the regulation from being passed into law.
She expressed optimism that the LRC would leverage its legal expertise to support state institutions in amending the Road Traffic Regulation 2024 and the ongoing review of the Road Traffic Act.
Just like in Ghana, road traffic injuries are an increasingly serious public health concern in Africa.
Per the World Health Organization (WHO) 2023 status report on road safety, causing an estimated 225,482 deaths due to injuries.
Africa also accounts for 19 per cent of the global burden of deaths, despite having 15 per cent of the global population and owning merely 3% of the global vehicle fleet.
Per the WHO 2023 status report on road safety launched in Kenya in July 2024, the African region holds the highest fatality of 19.4 per cent per 100,000 population.
The estimated number of fatalities has increased by 17 per cent since 2010; However, 17 countries have reduced the fatalities by 2% to 49% since then.
In Ghana, the National Road Safety Authority reported that the first half of 2024 saw a total of 1,237 fatalities and 7,561 injuries resulting from road traffic accidents in the country.
These crashes involved 11,283 vehicles covering private and commercial vehicles, as well as motorbikes and cycles, leading to 8,798 fatalities.
Compared to the previous year, there was a decrease in the number of reported cases, vehicles involved, persons injured, and pedestrian knockdowns in 2024, according to NRSA, due to intensified campaigns and collaborations with relevant stakeholders.
However, the most worrying trend was the 13 per cent increase in fatalities compared to the same period in 2023.
During the engagement, Mr David Adonteng, a Director-General at NRSA, stated that the primary contributing factor to road crashes in Ghana was speeding, leading to head-on collisions because of wrongful overtaking.
“By far, speeding is one factor that is contributing to pedestrian death. When you are hit by a vehicle running more than 50km/h, you will not survive,” he said.
Stressing, “Speeding is what is contributing to the head-on collision.”
Ghana’s speed regime, according to NRSA, is as follows: on the Accra-Tema motorway, the country’s only motorway and expressway, the maximum speed limit is 100km/h.
On highways, the limit is 90km/h, which drops to 50km/h in settlements where people live, and further to 30km/h and 20km/h in other areas.
However, Mr Adonteng, who is also an engineer, noted that it was rare to see anyone driving at 90km/h, as many drivers are going much faster, with some reaching speeds of 180km/h or more.
The situation is partly attributed to the importation of speed vehicles, poor road conditions, and the behaviour of drivers and other road users who fail to adhere to road regulations and practices.
Experts note that a staggering 90 per cent of drivers on Ghanaian roads do not comply with the country’s speed limits, while the NRSA reports that speeding resulted in 39.8 per cent of fatalities with 32.2 per cent of people suffering numerous injuries in 2021.
Mr Adonteng emphasized the need for continued efforts and collaborations to enhance speed management and control as well as address the risk factors contributing to the high number of road traffic crashes.
Chief Superintendent Alexander Obeng, the Director in charge of Education, Research and Training at the Motor Traffic and Transport Directorate of the Ghana Police Service, made a presentation that focused on Ghana’s overall road safety strategy, aligning with United Nations standards and pillars.
He emphasized that effective road safety management involved improving the quality of roads to ensure safer and more efficient mobility.
Additionally, it includes raising awareness, providing training, and establishing emergency medical services.
He stated that these measures were central to Ghana’s national policy on road safety management, focusing on practical initiatives and interventions to address road conditions.
Mr. Osei Kufuor, the Coordinator for Bloomberg Initiatives for Global Road Safety in Ghana, underscored the importance of tighter collaboration among civil society organizations and state actors to intervene and minimize road crashes.
He also stressed the need for stronger partnerships and synergies in advocacy interventions targeting key behavioural risk factors causing road traffic injuries.
Various stakeholders, including transport operators, NRSA and the Motor Traffic and Transport Directorate of the Ghana Police Service, have acknowledged road crashes as a human rights issue.
Therefore, LRC’s initiative is a significant step in addressing Ghana’s speed culture and working towards reducing the devastating effects of road crashes.
Source: https://gna.org.gh/2024/10/lrc-engages-road-safety-authorities-to-address-ghanas-speed-culture/
