NGO calls for Audit of Death Road Signs to improve Road Safety in Ghana.

NGO calls for Audit of Death Road Signs to improve Road Safety in Ghana.

There is so much clutter of road furniture on our road sides that directly affect all road users.

If you have not observed it, then you should take a closer look.

Our roads are cluttered with different road signs of different sizes and at different heights.

Sometimes the posts are placed in pedestrian paths hence causing pedestrians to walk off dedicated walkways therefore veering into carriageways.

This leads to increased conflicts between pedestrians and vehicles.

If you also take a closer look around, you would also realise that some of these posta have fallen off or have been cut at the bases hence being posing as risks to pedestrians. Have you noticed anyone hit the leg into a metal or concrete base. Who is responsible?

Look at the number of posts and billboards at junctions that obscure you visibility.

Now you have to think about this. The height of the post affecting the road user us relative to the type of road user. The visibility splay or envelope paired by a given post for a pedestrian, heavy goods user, a cyclist and a small salon car are very different.

What this means is that, one post sited would need minimum heights and widths to ensure good visibility apply for all road users. This sounds simple but it needs professionals to carry out this assessment. It is for this reason that standards are used to regulate this particular issue.

There are so many billboards that are positioned along road sides without any obvious consideration for road safety.

Any individual could randomly commission a welder to make a sign post for positioning on the road without being subject to any policy or regulation.

Surely officials at the local government authorities must be regulating these practices.

The lack of regulation from municipal/district assemblies is a major cause for worry. This this negligence?

It is also expected that the Ghana Institution of Engineer would have by now developed a standard that could be used amongst local authorities.

The local authorities must ensure that permits are acquired before any posts, signboards, billboards which all are classified as road furniture are audited and permitted before placement.

The above process will sanitise the clutter of road furniture and help improve visibility splays especially at junctions.
This will surely help ameliorate the high rates of road accidents thus improving our poor road safety record.

Another benefit would be the generation of funds internally by local authorities to supplement their IGF (Internally Generated Funds). This is a very strategic source of funding which could be used to implement minor traffic management schemes upon consultation with experts in this field.

The responsibility of keeping our roads safe lies with all of us. We must discourage poor practices and improve policy/framework formulation and implementation to save the lives of the previous citizens in Ahafo and Ghana.

In the event of local authorities needing professional advice towards development of standards, they may contact Amend Foundation on 0505808020.

Article by Amend Ghana (Road Safety) Foundation.

The author is a Professional Member of:

-Chartered Institute Of Highways and Transportation, UK

-Institution of Highways Engineers, UK

-Institute Of Engineers. Ireland