Friday 2 May 2008

Driving like crazy

Reckless driving has been the topic of the week. While having sushi on Wednesday, the Poetress described the car accident she was involved (and luckily unhurt) in close to Cape Coast last weekend. Yesterday, we witnessed a car accident opposite Shell and Golden Tulip. A car that had been swerving through the lanes, trying to get wherever as fast as possible, (or as we suspect, the two guys were trying to impress the two girls in the car), caught on to the back bumper of a truck in front of it, this caused the car to abruptly turn and flip, landing in a ditch on the side of the road.

From what we saw, it seemed as if the four people were not too badly injured, apparently one had a gushing wound but the others were ok (subject to internal bleedings of course) and they were all able to get out without assistance, but not much was left of the car. I would like to ask the driver whether it was worth it for the two minutes he would have saved going towards Tetteh Quarshie.

A few minutes ago, the actor Kwame Owusu-Ansah was confirmed dead after driving into a truck that had apparently parked in the slow lane on the motorway to Tema last night. I had never heard of him but apparently he is a well known actor.

As someone who drives on the motorway every day, (have already been back and forth on it today) and often sees trucks driving at 30km/h without any lights at all (and for those who don't know, there are still NO STREET LIGHTS on the motorway), I know that his accident and death could easily happen to anyone at any time.

I can't help but wonder when something concrete is going to be done to reduce the amount of reckless driving and accidents on our streets. When will streetlights on a motorway with an average speed of 100-120 km/h be prioritised over flower gardens at Danquah Circle, Cantonments roundabout and other places? When will policemen stop the taxis and trotros that cross over to drive against traffic on the dirt patch by El Wak stadium (as witnessed a few hours ago) instead of looking for bribes from the ex-pats in huge 4x4s?

When will we have anything other than prayer, faith or luck to protect us on a drive anywhere at anytime???

2 comments:

The Author said...

Maya, the senseless carnage on the streets scare me so much when I leave home in the morning and when I leave the office at night. Driving and wanting to have no crash or scratch is something like playing football and not wanting to be tackled. This is so scary and sad :(

Maya Mame said...

It is really scary, actually makes me sad at times to think the risk we put ourselves at when we enter the same roads as the maniac drivers. But what to do?

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