Road vampires- Breakdown vehicles devour lives

When Francis Nando closed the gate behind him on June 3, 2023, and embarked on a journey from Kpassa in the Nkwanta-North District in the Oti Region to Accra, little did his young family know that he would never return alive.

What started as a smooth journey for the 38-year-old turned rough when the 63-seater Vision Express Bus in which he was travelling crashed into a stationary truck on the shoulders of the road at Akuse Junction in the Eastern Region at about 9 p.m. His dream to climb higher the academic ladder and build a beautiful family was shattered when he was killed in the crash.

The late Nando’s widow now has the arduous task of breaking her back to give her children a glimmer of hope.

The sad narrative of Nando is a case study of how breakdown vehicles dotted across the country’s roads have been devouring lives like a blood-thirsty vampire.
Latex Foam

A comprehensive analysis of road traffic statistics from the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) revealed that between 1991 and 2023, 58,156 persons died from 351,278 road crashes across the country, while 461,432 others suffered varying degrees of injury.

A further analysis of the NRSA statistics over a 10-year period (2012 to 2022) revealed that out of the 23,490 people who were killed in road crashes, 687 of the deaths occurred because of abandoned vehicles on the road. That constitutes nearly three per cent of the total deaths through road crashes within the period.

When put against the 58,156 persons killed in road crashes over the past three decades (1991 to 2023), it means that 1,687 those deaths could have been avoided if disabled vehicles on the shoulders of roads were towed as required by law.
Non-compliance

Regulation 102 (1) of the Road Traffic Regulations, 2012 (L.I 2180) states: “An owner of a vehicle or person in charge of a motorcycle or trailer who causes or permits the motorcycle or trailer which breaks down on the road to be left on the road shall give notice to the nearest police station or authorise a towing service provider within an hour, if the breakdown vehicle or trailer is located within a built-up area; and within two hours if the breakdown vehicle or trailer is within a place other than a built-up area.”