Stationary Vehicles and Fatalities on Our Roads

Last year or so, when it was announced that persons who failed to complete basic elementary education will in future be ineligible for driver's license in Ghana, I wrote on Ghanaweb to condemn the proposed regulation as a policy driven by prejudice and ignorance, rather than by facts or reason. Unfortunately, so much of what passes for regulation and policy in Ghana is made that way: no hard facts based on research or primary knowledge; just subjective hunch or speculative thinking. Supporters of the proposed law, which for me is little more than blatant, class-based discrimination, claim that the policy is necessary to reduce traffic accidents, implying that somehow "uneducated" drivers?and a lack of formal education--are responsible for most traffic accidents and fatalities on our roads. I continue to believe that there are no facts to back up this claim. Nor is the claim supportable by common knowledge or by the history of driving in Ghana.

There are, however, more than sufficient facts and common knowledge to support the observation that there are too many vehicles immobilized on Ghana's roads. Many of our roads, which are meant for moving vehicles, have been turned into parking lots and garages for immobilized or stationary vehicles.

Vehicles that break down on our roads are left on our roads, sometimes for days, and when mechanics are eventually brought in to repair them, they repair them right there on the roads, turning entire lanes into garages. As the immobilized vehicles sit, waiting to be repaired (almost never to be towed), the only notice that passing vehicles get that there is an immobilized vehicle ahead are a few tree branches placed and scattered a few yards or meters away from the stationary vehicle. Obviously these tree branches do not illuminate in the dark, thus heightening the danger that a vehicle travelling in the same lane as the immobilized vehicle will run into the latter vehicle. This, sadly, is how hundreds and thousands of lives are lost on Ghana's roads. These "parked" vehicles, which have commandeered entire lanes unto themselves, have become death traps for unsuspecting drivers.

The tragedy is not that this problem exists; the real tragedy is that no solution appears in sight, year after year after year. And yet, rather than think about solving this real problem, we divert attention into some prejudice-driven discrimination that may or may not have much to do with this problem of immobilized vehicles or of accidents on our roads generally.

I offer the proposal below for the attention and consideration of Government; more specifically, the Ministry of Roads & Transport, the Ministry of Local Government, and the Ghana Police Service. It is free of charge; no consultant fees. All I ask for is for somebody with the appropriate authority and responsibility to take this seriously, for a change. It is dedicated to the memory of Mr. Ferdinand Ayim and to all the countless lives lost before him, all of them tragic victims of avoidable ?accidents? on our nation?s roads and highways.

Ghana needs a no-nonsense, well-regulated towing service industry to rid our roads and highways of these dangerous immobilized vehicles. The challenge is how to do this effectively nationwide.

First, I propose that each district assembly and district police command be given towing rights and authority over the roads and highways that lie within their territorial jurisdiction.

Second, each district assembly should be required to purchase tow trucks and equipment and operate a towing service or else assign tow service rights to licensed private sector operators within their districts. The Ministry of Roads & Transport, in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government, can pre-finance the initial purchase of these tow trucks and heavy-duty equipment for the districts, with repayment of the cost to be made by the districts from the revenues generated from operating the tow service.

Third, national law or regulation should authorize and require the towing by the relevant district assembly (with the assistance of the district police) of any vehicle that is immobilized on any road or highway within the jurisdiction of a district. In cases where towing is not immediately feasible, the vehicle must be officially impounded on the spot, and while it sits there all of its cargo must be offloaded or the cargo portion detached and pulled away and the immobilized vehicle monitored and illuminated by the police at night. Fines must be levied by the district assembly for every hour or specified fraction of the day that the vehicle remains immobilized and impounded on the road. The amount of the fine should be based on the gross weight of the vehicle, with "tankers" or haulage and timber trucks paying as much as 1 million cedis (or more) in fine for each hour or specified fraction of the day that they remain impounded on the road, plus a surcharge if the vehicle remains immobilized overnight. Vehicles towed should also be levied a fee for each hour or specified fraction of the day they remain in the custody of the district, subject to the right of the district to dispose of the vehicle by public auction if it has not been claimed after a certain fixed number of days. Proceeds from the fines and auction should be retained for local development by the district assembly concerned.

Fourth, to ensure accountability, the relevant district assembly and district police command should be held responsible, and the appropriate officers subject to discipline, including discharge and, in appropriate cases, prosecution for criminal dereliction of duty, if a fatal accident occurs involving an immobilized vehicle that was not towed or impounded at the time of the accident.

Fifth, vehicle operators would be required under the proposed regulation to make a report to the appropriate district assembly and district police command immediately their vehicle becomes immobilized on a highway. Failure to make a timely report would be a separate criminal offense. Owners of vehicles immobilized on the roads that cause accidents should be held criminally liable (in addition to the drivers) for any resulting deaths or damage to property, and be subject to penalties that must include a confiscation of the vehicle and stiff fines. The Government should also encourage and advice families of persons injured or killed in such accidents to bring tort suits, including wrongful death suits, against the drivers and owners of such immobilized vehicles. This may require new wrongful death statutes to extend strict civil liability to vehicle owners.

Finally, the existing regulation (I presume there is one) prohibiting vehicles exceeding a certain weight from traveling at night should be extended to and enforced in a decentralized fashion against all vehicles carrying certain exposed cargo, especially timber, bags of maize, charcoal, or yams. All such vehicles must be required to park at a place away from the roads after sunset and recommence their journeys after day break. The same rule should be extended to any vehicle whose tail or brake lights are defective: the law must order such vehicles to stay off the roads after sunset. Again, authority must be granted to district assemblies to enforce this regulation, in collaboration with the police and private tow services. Criminal penalties, including impoundment and towing of the vehicle and punitive fines, must be levied against vehicles that remain on the roads in violation of the ?No Night Driving? regulation. Also, in the event of an accident involving any such vehicle, the vehicle owners must be held strictly and criminally liable.

While the immediate goal of this proposal is to get immobilized vehicles off our roadways, the ultimate effect would be to make it extremely punitive, both financially and criminally, for vehicle owners who allow their road-unworthy vehicles to ply our nation's roads. The system of ?roadworthiness certificates? has obviously failed, and we need to put in place new or additional measures to deal with the risks that vehicles in poor mechanical condition continue to pose on our roads. My proposal also aims to apply appropriate ?carrots and sticks? to support decentralized enforcement of discipline on our highways. It is time to bring district assemblies and private tow services into the implementation and enforcement of regulations and discipline on our roads and highways and provide them with the necessary legal authority, facilities, financial incentives and accountability to get the job done.

If Government cannot find and implement appropriate remedies to basic, recurring everyday problems like these, what else do we need government for? My proposal may not solve or prevent every road accident caused by an immobilized vehicle, and I haven't aimed at perfection in this initial proposal. But one thing I do know for sure is that my modest proposal is better than doing nothing or issuing driver's licenses only to speakers and readers of the "Queen's English". (Will the Queens-English speakers and readers also be the ones exclusively qualified to drive the tro tros and tankers and timber trucks?)

Development is not rocket-science, but it will not happen by chance either. To make progress as a nation, we must begin with the simple things of life and everyday problems first. Along with W. Arthur Lewis? prescient book ?Politics in West Africa? (1965), Lee Kwan Yew's memoir, "From Third World to First: The Singapore Story" (2000), must become required reading for everybody who aims to enter politics or public service in Ghana. Haven't we had enough already of the blind leading the blind?and leading us all to our avoidable deaths?

Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.