After vowing not to travel on the Accra-Cape Coast road on weekends because of the horrendous traffic situation, I was lulled into making a trip on the highway on the basis of an observation made last year that increased Police presence had had salutary effect on the N1.

However, the experience on Saturday, May 28, 2023, between Gomoa-Dawurampong and Kasoa was disturbing.

It was obvious that Police visibility had decreased and the drivers were taking advantage of the lower numbers to misconduct themselves.
On a day that the president and other dignitaries were using the same route to attend a funeral at Awutu- Beraku, one had expected extra police deployment and orderliness along the stretch.

The skeletal police presence reflected in the spill-over of market activities onto the highway at Buduburam even as the distinguished personalities passed on to Awutu- Beraku.

The real problem had to do with the uncontrollable movement of traffic in the opposite direction, particularly from Gomoa-Dawurampong towards Kasoa.

With hardly any police presence along the stretch, motorists were variously engaged in over-speeding, reckless overtaking, frequent blocking of oncoming traffic and driving on the shoulders of the road.

Many drivers were forcibly cutting in from uncommon accesses and creating multiple lanes which threatened the safety of people in vehicles that were lawfully in the queue.

One wonders whatever happened to the impressive Police presence which reportedly had a salutary effect on the highway and which earned the Service high praise in 2022.

Even then, it was observed that some recalcitrant drivers had resorted to driving on the shoulders of the roads when police personnel were not in view.

In the face of the decreased number of personnel, the impunity of the drivers was expectedly high.

The attention of the Police is being drawn to these developments in the hope that the MTTD would get its personnel to dominate the road and check the unruly drivers.

Arrests and outcomes of prosecutions of the road traffic offenders on the stretch should be widely publicised so as to serve as deterrence to drivers who care less about endangering the lives of people, especially pedestrians.

While the public cannot dictate the pace of expanding the single-lane pre-independence road, the Police have the authority to ensure that the lives of people travelling on the N1 are secure. We are owed that duty.