13 Die on Apedwa-Anyinase road

Road accidents along the Apedwa-Anyinase junction in the Eastern Region has killed 13 people and injured hundreds of commuters between January and April 2017.

The cause of the accidents has been attributed to defects along the shoulders of the road which had been left in bad shape after an asphaltic overlay along the stretch increased the thickness of the road to 100 millimetres from the ground.

The shoulders, which are to serve as emergency stopping lanes for motorists to pull out of the main road in the event of vehicular breakdowns, are in bad state, as a surface dressing to raise its thickness to 50 millimetres had been neglected.

Paved shoulders also provide additional space to help motorists avoid head-on collisions in the event of wrong driving by other motorists from the opposite direction.

Residents in adjourning communities, including Antwemamena and Bonsu Junction, whose relatives had been knocked down along the stretch by vehicles, are appealing to the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) to address the challenge.

A resident, Mr Joseph Larbi, said he lost a family member to a speeding vehicle and that such accidents were common within the community.

“We have had speeding vehicles overturning and somersaulting into homes in the community as a result of vehicles drifting onto the shoulders of the road,” Mr Larbi said.

Police

The Kyebi Divisional Commander of the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Police Service, Chief Inspector George Appiah-Kubi, also said the stretch had become unsafe for commuters owing to the deplorable nature of the shoulders.

He said in an interview in Kyebi last Thursday that while speeding and reckless driving along the stretch could not be ruled out in most of the fatal crashes that occurred, incidents of deaths could have been minimised if the shoulders of the road had been dressed up to thicken it to standard.

“Drivers will sometimes drift into the shoulder when they are being overtaken by passing vehicles to avoid running into oncoming vehicles, but they quickly make a dive back on the main road when they realise the shoulders are extremely unsafe,” Mr Appiah-Kubi said.

Road markings

The MTTD divisional commander said the death toll was worrying, considering that the division recorded about 337 accidents in 2016 around Kyebi, Nsawam, Suhum, Coaltar, Anyinam and Kwabeng, leading to 40 deaths.

“The Ghana Highway Authority must as a matter of urgency ensure that a surface dressing is done on the shoulders to avert the high accident rate,” Mr Appiah-Kubi advised.