Residents worried about rampant accidents in Tamale

Story & Picture: Zakaria
Alhassan, Tamale
07/03/08

RESIDENTS of Tamale have expressed grave concern over the rampant accidents on the Agric, Gumani and Jisonayili junctions along the Tamale Bolgatanga road.
The latest accident occurred early on Wednesday morning at the Agric junction when a Niger bound passenger bus run into a nearby house.
Luckily, there were no fatalities. However, one person, Amadu Yakubu who was fast asleep in the room and hit by the vehicle sustained a broken limp and is responding to treatment at the Tamale Teaching Hospital.
The cause of the accident which happened at 3am was not immediately known but some eye witnesses alleged that the driver was either sleeping or had a faulty break system.
Several accidents have occurred on that particular junction and claimed several lives.
The busy dual carriage road leads into a single lane which links the other junctions. Being a major trunk road, heavy-duty vehicles that ply between Ghana and neighbouring countries such as Burkina Fasso and Niger are constantly driving through it day and night.
A number of schools in the metropolis are also located in the area, thus exposing the teachers, workers, pupils and students some of whom ride bicycles home after closing to constant danger.
Majority of the children walk while others wait precariously on the shoulders of the roads for their parents or drivers to pick them.
The regular use of the road and the occasional break down of trucks on it also leads to the spillage of oil resulting in the destruction of the multi-billion cedis asphalt roads.
It is for these reasons that residents of the metropolis have appealed to the Department of Urban Roads to, as a matter of urgency, pay attention to the road by turning it into a dual carriage way to facilitate the free flow of vehicles and people.
In the short term, some resident have suggested that the department installed traffic lights at the two junctions including the one at the NORRIP Village along the same road to direct the heavy traffic at those black spots to avert further accidents.
A teacher, Mr Suhiyini Nbang-ba, also entreated the authorities at the Department of Urban Roads to do well to extend the ‘‘safe road to school’’ project where secured passages were being created for school children in some parts of the metropolis on the road.
When the co-ordinating director of the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly, Alhaji Adam Mohammed Baba, was contacted, he said discussions were ongoing with various stakeholders to see how the situation could be contained.
In the short term, he said, rumble strips had been erected at those junctions while studies would be conducted to ascertain the feasibility of installing traffic lights at those spots on the highway.