MOTORBIKE ACCIDENTS ON THE RISE IN WA (PAGE 42, NOV 24, 2010)

ADAMU Nwin (not a real name) was an enterprising young carpenter in the Wa Municipality whose expertise was highly patronised. Both private and public sector employees always wanted Nwin to manufacture furniture for their office or residential purposes.
Just recently, many people realised that the workshop of Nwin remained permanently closed and upon enquiries, some customers were informed that their “darling” carpenter had passed away.
He died in a motorbike accident.
In another instance, a 34-year-old friend of this writer, a security man, who married a year ago, also met his untimely death through a similar accident.
These accidents are just a tip of the iceberg. Motor cycle accidents have become so rampant in Wa that never a day passes by without accidents being recorded.
In fact, one is tempted to believe that apart from malaria, the next killer in the municipality is the motorbike.
What has compounded the problem is the influx of the large number of students of the Wa Campus of the University for Development Studies, many of who use motor cycles.
Every Tom, Dick and Harry in Wa either rides or owns a motorbike and the riding of the bikes is a source of worry to many concerned people. When lectures close at the new Bamahu campus and the students are returning to Wa, it is as frightening as the word itself.
Apart from speeding, the students try to outdo one another through unnecessary overtaking, which most often put their lives at risk, yet nobody seems to halt the phenomenon that is gradually rearing its ugly head.
Sometimes, some of the riders carry as many as three or four people, a situation which is unlawful.
 Are we to wait for the situation to take a bigger dimension before action is taken? The answer is a big no because nobody knows if some of these students could become Presidents and ministers in the future.
Another problem is the failure of some of the student riders not stopping at intersections, and one therefore, has to be on the defensive when driving.
Perhaps, the most effective way to avoid not being crushed by a careless rider is to blow one’s horn to remind them to stop. There is also the issue of inexperienced riders, that is, people who do not know anything about road signs, and who are you to complain.
As if it is in vogue, parents would not hesitate to release their motorbikes to their children to ride , knowing very well that it is against the law.
As a result of the alarming situation, the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) in the Upper West Region has mapped out strategies to reduce motorbike accidents to the barest minimum.
Paramount among the strategies is the decision of members of the commission to visit the UDS and Wa Polytechnic campuses to sensitise the students on the usage of motorbikes.
They have also decided to use the local FM radio stations, debates on road safety in second-cycle educational institutions, making use of fuel stations for distribution of posters, collaborate with the municipal assembly to arrest stray animals on the streets and stoppage of riding in the central market.
Other measures are towing of broken-down vehicles along the roads and streets, which is yet to start in the region and collaborating with the regional co-ordinating council to find ways of supporting the UDS students to reach Bamahu for lectures.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic at Wa, the Upper West Regional Manager of the NRSC, Mr Suleimana Abdul–Karim, said to stem the tide, the commission would go on air every two days to educate riders on the need to obey traffic rules.
He attributed part of the problem to illiteracy, especially among ladies, who most often did not know road signs.
“Currently, we are combining education and enforcement and as we speak now, some of those arrested are being prosecuted at the courts,” he added
Mr Abdul-Karim noted with regret that despite educating the UDS students on the availability of helmets at his office which sells at GH¢35, none of them had bothered to purchase one.
It is against this background that the police must arrest and prosecute these unlicensed riders to serve as a deterrent to others. In all humility, the police should not bow to the whims and caprices of politicians who are the first people to order them to release the offending motorbike riders.
The police must periodically conduct operations to rid the municipality of “merchants of death” just like the recent one which brought sanity on the roads.
Finally, the authorities of the Wa Campus of the UDS should inculcate responsible riding into their students rather than looking on unconcerned. After all, being in the university is not only classroom matters but outside as well.