A STUDY OF CURRENT STRATEGIES AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES FOR REDUCING ROAD ACCIDENTS IN TEMA

Abstract

This study was on a study of current strategies and educational programmes for reducing road accident in Tema. Four objectives were raised which included: What are the causes of road accidents in Tema, effect of road accidents in Tema, how can road accident in Tema be prevented, How do road users use the roads and how is the police MTTD  in Tema helping to prevent road accidents. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made up of police officers and drivers were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies. The study recommended that there should be a sanction to those that beat traffic light and those that are drunk while driving

  CHAPETER 1

1. INTRODUCTION

1. BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Every year, there are countless of road accidents on the roads due to increased traffic on the roads and bad behaviors of road users.  According to World Health Organisation(W.H.O.) newsletter on road safety published in November 2003, road traffic are taking the lives of 1.2 million men, women and children around the world  each year. An example is the Tema motoway, almost everyday an accidents appears or occurs on it. Experts say,increased motorist population, long working hours and stressful life are the major reasons for the rise in road accidents in Ghana. Injuries  and disability resulting from road accidents put strain on economies , typically consuming between 1 and 3 percent of a country’s gross national product per annum  (UN,2003). Traveling on the Tema motoway roads has become a nightmare as the country records more deaths from fatal road accidents. According to Road Safety Commission, over 230 people have died in Ghana in road accidents between January and  February 2018 and 2,671 have experienced serious injuries. The Tema  Motoway records over 200 deaths every year (Koranteng , 2018).Road accidents occurs from different reasons. Some are that drivers are being distracted  while behind the wheel, taking their focus away from the road. In some situations , drivers can become tired after spending multiple hours at the wheel,  causing preventable errors. Sometimes to , accidents occur from  combination of reasons, one is bad visibility to unsafe road design, or other drivers lack cautions.

 Road accidents are things that no road users wants to face when using the road but it always occurs. The funny thing or unfortunate thing is that people do not learn from mistakes  on the road.  Some road users know the safety measures and general rules while using the road , but they don’t go according to it. They only do things that will make them comfortable even though they are driving people .Most of the road accidents are through human errors.

Also, the month of December recorded the highest monthly fatalities, for the third year running. Compared to the national population pattern, males (78.5%) are over-represented in road traffic fatalities, accounting for about 3.7 times those of females and that the 26- 35 years age group continued to be the modal age group in the fatality statistics (National Road Safety commission , statistics, 2018)

Road accidents as from the name are series of events that are caused by diverse factors relating to road and its conditions . Wikipedia also defined road accidents   as a traffic collision which occurs when vehicle collided with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road ferris or other stationary obstruction such as tree , pole or building. The high increase  of vehicles is the major reason why there is a study growth of accidents on Tema Highway.

According to Ghana Med J2020;54(3):131 , In Ghana,72 persons out of every 100,000 populations , suffered from grievous bodily injury, close to 8 of the same population died from road traffic accidents over a past of decades. Some problems of road accidents are over speeding, drunken driving, red light jumping ,ineffective MTTD etc. Most victims of road accidents are between the ages of 6 to 35 years.  The burdens of road accidents in Tema should be watched carefully and needs multiple approach to reduce  the lose of lives and properties at Tema. Hence , the main aim of the study is to identify and determine the current strategies and educational programmes  for reducing  road accidents in Tema.

SOURCE: National Road  Safety Commission, Statistics,2018

1.2. PROBLEM STATEMENT

Tema’s highway network are showing interesting signs of improvements but some reconstruction is required to avert long periods of neglect. There’s a  huge potential or a way of reducing road accident on the roads of Tema through better design standards and maintenance. On the Tema roads , there are inadequate signpost, and road markings are sometimes absent over a long stretches of highway. When the police in Tema make sure there are well-designed road signs and markings, it can lead to a contribution to the safe and efficient operation of road accidents. Inadequate road markings increase the chaos and accident potential roads, especially Tema roads.

1.3.2 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

Based 0n the objectives of the study, the following questions will be assessed:

1. What are the causes of road accidents in Tema?
2. Effect of road accidents in Tema?
3. How can road accident in Tema be prevented ?
4. How do road users use the roads?
5. How is the police MTTD  in Tema helping to prevent road accidents?

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The study has the following research questions;

1. What are the causes of road accidents in Tema?
2. What are the effects of road accidents in Tema?
3. What are some of the recommendations to prevent road accidents in Tema?

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

 The following gives more significance of the study: the study is a fact finding one , which stress on the strategies  and educational programmes for  reducing road accidents in Tema. It will help the police by identifying high accidents zones around Tema. It will also help thegovernment and the department of roads and transport in identifying ways to reduce or minimize the causes of road accidents and also implementing of new rules for road users and road safety. However, this study will serve as basic reference for other researches who may want to conduct similar studies as this. Also, other stakeholders who may find the same issues somewhere can also use the findings to solve the problem.

1.6 METHODOLOGIES

In this study, mixed methods were used in the collection of data, where the quantitative data will be obtained using questionnaires to assess road users from Tema motoway and streets of Tema. The qualitative data was collected through interviews with small size of police MTTD  and taxi station around Tema.

1.7 CONCLUSION This chapter is the introduction made up of the background of the study, statement of the problem, objectives of the study , research questions, significance of the study and methodology.

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