NewzDirector of the West Africa Regional Centre of CUTS International, Appiah Kusi Adomako, has called for a broader national response to Ghana’s persistent road fatalities beyond the work of traffic police and road safety agencies. Mr Adomako noted the country’s approach to road safety must change significantly, arguing that the scale of deaths recorded annually on Ghanaian roads demands greater investment, stronger enforcement and collective responsibility. Speaking on JoyNews’ The Law on Sunday, he said road crashes had become such a serious threat to public safety that government should consider declaring them a public health emergency.
His comments were based on the number of lives lost through road crashes, which he said exceeded 2,500 last year. Mr Adomako said the daily fatalities amounted to roughly eight people losing their lives on Ghanaian roads each day, a situation he believes should attract a level of national urgency comparable to other major public emergencies. He contrasted the response to road crashes with Ghana’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that the government mobilised considerable financial and institutional resources to contain the pandemic even though the number of deaths was lower.
“When COVID came, Ghana had less than 1,000 people dying from COVID within the period of 2020 and 2022, when we stopped the protocols,” he said. He argued that the comparison exposed what he considers a major imbalance in the country’s allocation of resources towards public safety. While COVID-19 prompted extensive government spending on public education, restrictions and enforcement measures, Mr Adomako said road safety had not received a comparable level of investment despite the continuous loss of lives.
He therefore believes Ghana needs to rethink road safety as a long-term national priority rather than treating road crashes largely as isolated incidents requiring intervention after they occur. A key part of that change, he said, should be a more visible police presence on the country’s roads. Mr Adomako argued that effective enforcement is necessary to influence driver behaviour and discourage violations that can lead to serious crashes.
“If we want to enhance road safety, we need to see the police presence on the road,” he said. He nevertheless welcomed the introduction of automated traffic offences under the new law, describing the use of… Speaking on JoyNews’ The Law on Sunday, Mr Adomako said the persistent loss of lives through road crashes had reached a level that could no longer be treated simply as a transport or law-enforcement problem.
He said more than 2,500 people died in road crashes in Ghana last year, describing the daily toll as a serious national crisis that required a much stronger response from the state. “For me, we have even been saying that government should declare road crashes a public health emergency,” he said. According to him, an average of about eight Ghanaians losing their lives in road crashes each day should compel the government to adopt emergency measures and devote significantly more resources to preventing road deaths.
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