Following a series of tragic motor traffic accidents that claimed several lives towards the end of last year I expressed, in a Ghanaweb feature article published on 27th September 2005, what in my considered opinion, were contributory factors to the accidents. Also, like many others before and after me, I made suggestions on what I thought could be done to improve the situation. Unfortunately, as the evidence is quite clear, there does not appear to be any improvement of the situation in sight. Quite the contrary, and in the mean time, as Sonny Okusson once said in his song ?Fire In Soweto?, ?my people are dying?. Yes, indeed, there?s carnage on Ghanaian roads and my people are dying!

In reaction to this, and apparently having concluded that all accidents on our roads involved Mercedes Benz 207 buses, a Member of Parliament recently called for the banning of the vehicle. Then again, following the tragic death of 35 choristers of the Abuakwa Parish of the Roman Catholic Church in an accident on the Kumasi-Sunyani road involving a Mercedes Benz 207 and an Intercity STC bus on Monday, 15th May, an Assistant Professor of Sociology, Dr. Kwaku Obosu-Mensah, has joined the chorus calling for the ban of that particular vehicle from our roads. In his article published on Ghanaweb on 18th May 2006, he is calling on the Ministry of Transportation to take ?a critical look at the safety issue? of Mercedes Benz 207 and ban them from our roads altogether or at least from plying long distances. It is in direct response to Dr. Obosu-Mensah?s article that I have been prompted to write again on this issue of road accidents.

Only The Right Solutions Are Good Enough

I strongly believe that there?s the need for our authorities to act promptly in response to incidents of this nature as a means of ensuring that the situations that led to them would not be repeated in future. However, I think the risk of over-reacting to events and in the event adopting unrealistic policies is as bad as not reacting at all.

Perhaps if Dr. Obosu-Mensah had made his call as an ordinary ?man on the street? rather than doing so with his full credentials people?s reaction to it would have been more muted than it is now. I?m saying this because with our general attitude towards academic degrees and high positions it should not surprise anyone if the next thing you hear is that the authorities have indeed paid heed to a ?suggestion by a Ghanaian Professor in the U.S.? and have decided to ban what may perhaps be the most common type of means of transport in the absence of other more efficient mass transportation system. Unlike me, an ordinary ?man on the street, Dr. Obosu-Mensah could easily be the next ?expert? from Ghanaians in the Diaspora to be seen on Ghana TV or participating in a seminar on how to prevent accidents on our roads explaining why his suggestions should be taken seriously. And make no mistake, his views are more likely to be taken more seriously than the common sense view of the average man on the street.

Sadly, even though Dr. Obosu-Mensah went full length to give a list of accidents involving the vehicle he is calling to be banned from our roads he woefully failed to establish the link between the design and performance of the vehicle and the accidents they have been involved in. He also failed to produce any evidence to prove that in other parts of the world that particular vehicle is a ?killer?. As a matter of fact in all but one of the accidents he listed the Mercedes Benz is reported to have been involved in a collision with another vehicle, either head-on or while the other was stationary. He did not even cite one instance among the lot in which for example, while negotiating a curve or climbing a hill, the vehicle fell on its side or somersaulted which could be attributed to its faulty design. As a matter of fact, in the specific case of the most recent accident involving the Abuakwa choristers Police investigations have established that the driver of the Mercedes Benz was following a taxi so closely that he failed to slow down when the taxi tried to branch at a junction at Akropong. To avoid hitting the taxi, the driver, now deceased, veered into the other lane, crashing into the oncoming STC bus and killing the 35 people. The Police go further to state that ?If Acheampong had exercised a little patience and slowed down for even a second, the fatal accident could have been avoided? (Ghanaweb 18th May 2006). This therefore should leave no doubt in anyone?s mind that the accident was caused by human error or ?careless driving?, to be more specific. On a lighter note, I would like to illustrate a point with a school drama I was involved in during my secondary school days. I?ve forgotten the name of the author but the title of the play was ?This is Our Chance?. There was a young princess who had a private teacher called Bambulu. He was fond of using high sounding words where simpler ones would have been perfect. One day he was teaching his primary school student about ?vitamins? when the young girl asked him: Sir, my grandmother fell into a pit and broke her neck. Could her problem be due vitamins? The response from Professor Bambulu was ?simple?. ?If the old lady fell into a pit and broke her neck, then it could not be due to vitamins. It could be due to asphyxia, respiratory paralysis, consequent upon the structural dislocation of one or more of the cervical vertebrae?. As you would expect, as a young student then I was more excited about the long sounding words than whatever it meant. Now that I understand it, however, it?s the actual meaning of the sentence that makes me find it relevant in this context.

What I?m saying, indeed, is that if a reckless driver drives his over-loaded vehicle into a wrongly parked vehicle or collides with an on-coming vehicle while attempting to overtake a vehicle on a curve the accident cannot be said to have occurred because of the vehicle being used. The blame should rather be put on the driver, to a lesser extent the system that licenses a 15-seater to carry 22 or more passengers, and issues ?professional? driving licences to people who do not even know the difference between a broken and a thick unbroken road demarcation line.

It is for this reason that I?m surprised to hear a Professor of Sociology of all people, listing incidents that are clearly caused by human error, recklessness or negligence and blaming them on one particular type of vehicle. Dr. Obosu-Mensah writes: ?Mercedes Benz (Daimler Chrysler) has a very impressive safety reputation when it comes to saloon cars but when it comes to passenger vans, it seems Mercedes is a killer. Since most road accidents in Ghana involve Mercedes Benz 207 vans there is something terribly wrong with that type of vehicle?.

I beg to differ, Sir!

If most road accidents in Ghana involve Mercedes Benz 207 vans it is only because it is one of the more commonly used medium size passenger transporters available. For his suggestion to have been taken seriously Dr. Obosu-Mensah should have established that all over the world the vehicle is a known ?killer?. I have taken all this trouble to reject Dr. Obosu-Mensah?s call and by extension the earlier one by the MP because I know that in Ghana we can easily overreact and end up taking measures which after careful thought would be found to be simply unrealistic or not enforceable. For example in the ?Ghanaian Times? of 14th July, 1997 the Police MTTU was reported to have given owners of vehicles with tinted glasses one week to remove them because according to the then Deputy Commander of the Unit ?investigations conducted by the unit recently indicated that some of such vehicles were being used to commit crimes of various degrees?.

Again on 19th September 2005, it was reported on Ghanaweb that when the new Road Traffic Regulation 2004, Act 683, came into effect the punishment for road traffic infringements including using mobile phones while driving and ?improper dressing? would attract a three or more years imprisonment? without the option of a fine. While we know that all over the world it?s an offence to use a mobile phone while driving I don?t know of any country where the offence is punishable by imprisonment of three years or more. But whether the law is now being enforced to the letter is another story altogether.

What?s happening on our roads is unfortunate, to say the least. However, we aren?t going to get anywhere in our desire to find a solution to the situation if instead of delving deep into the cause of the problem with a view to identifying the underlying cause we resort to rash measurements only to regret later.

To conclude, I don?t think there can be any doubt that more than anything else, it is human factor that?s contributing to the killing of innocent people on our roads. Leaving passenger-carrying vehicles in the hands of irresponsible people is almost the same as leaving guns in the hands of crazy people. And when it comes to finding solutions to this human factor I believe the expertise of people like Dr. Obosu-Mensah would be very much welcome. Not only drivers and ?car owners?, but also perhaps, officials of VELD, and the MTTU guys may all be required to undergo special lessons by the new Ministry of Information and National Orientation.

Finally, and on another lighter note to a serious issue, I wish to make it clear that I do not own any Mercedes Benz 207 or any commercial vehicle for that matter.