Unauthorised speed humps causes accidents
In Ghana, it is common for communities to erect illegal speed humps in their localities to check speeding by drivers.
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Humps are raised devices, parabolic in shape and placed across a road to slow down traffic.
They are often considered the most traditional physical traffic calming solution, they slow down traffic more gradually, they are ideal for residential roads and are generally used to bring speed to between 10 and 20 mph.
Controlling vehicles with a speed humps is the most effective method to improve the safety at a parking lot or driveway. Speed humps and road signs are the best ways to communicate to drivers to keep their speed to a minimum.
There are different types of speed ramps and these are the “Economy Solid Plastic speed humps”, “Portable EPDM rubber speed humps” , “Reflective Rubber speed humps” and “Recycled rubber speed humps modular” which is conducive for public roads.
Speed humps normally have a height of between two and three inches and four to 10 inches long and help to slow traffic where there are schools, hospitals and markets.
Although speed humps are created to enhance road safety and reduce accidents, the situation is different in the Upper West Region where they are rather death traps and accident prone because they are done poorly by the communities, thereby causing havoc to drivers who have to scale these high humps.
The speed humps in the region, apart from slowing down driving and increasing driver fatigue, could be the major cause of road accidents, particularly for new drivers and motor cycle riders.
Many of the humps are unauthorised and are meant to protect community members and livestock from speeding motorist.
The way the humps are constructed and the number on a stretch of road make it a fashionable in the communities in which they are sited rather than a precautionary measure.
There is no village, hamlet or town in the region in which you will not find speed humps. In some cases, one could find speed humps on footpaths.
Many people the GNA spoke to said they constructed the humps to protect their livestock, particularly fowls, goats and sheep from being crashed by speeding motorist
The humps, usually with 10 sited on a less than five kilometers of road, such as the Wa/Sombo and Wa/Tizza main roads are shoddily done.
In some cases the “Architects” of such humps place large logs, barely cover them with soil without any warning sign. Roadside vendors also construct them next to their wares in order to force drivers to slow down and buy their items.
Although they are often intended to protect life, they have caused a number of traffic fatalities. It is estimated that about 25 per cent of motor bike accidents recorded in the region were due to the unauthorised speed humpss.
Apart from the road accidents, humps also prolong travelling time, retard response to emergency cases by fire and ambulance services and damage vehicles.
The six to seven hours’ drive from Kumasi to Wa, has increased to about 10 hours due to the speed humpss on the Kumasi-Bamboi Hamile road.
Drivers cannot drive more than 50 mph even on the highway because the humps are so many that they will be damaging their vehicles if they attempt to speed.
The number of speed humps increases daily. One may drive through a community in the evening without a speed ramp but on the way back the next morning, one could encounter more than three speed humps on the same stretch of road.
When drivers who use these roads are struggling to climb and descend the “mountain high speed ramps” the community members, especially the youth, will sit back and laugh at the drivers, especially those whose cars have low suspension.
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The people have made up their minds to keep such unauthorised humps in place though the Minister of Roads and Highways, Alhaji Amin Amidu Sulemani, had ordered the Ghana Highways Authority in May to remove all unauthorised speed humpsin the country.
It would be important for both the National Road Safety Commission and the Ghana Highways Authority to build the appropriate speed humps instead of allowing the communities to do their own thing.
It is unfortunate people do not know it is illegal for any individual or group of people to mount humps on the major highways without approval from the authority.
Some drivers the GNA spoke to, suggested that people who put up illegal speed humps should be arrested and prosecuted and drivers should also drive carefully and observe all road signs and regulations. GNA Feature
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