We Ask For Patience On The Road, Ahead Of The Xmas Festivities

The Ministry of Health, through the Ghana Health Service (GHS), has issued a nationwide health alert ahead of the Christmas festivities, warning of a likely surge in road traffic accidents. Drawing on data from health facilities, the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), the Ghana Police Service and research institutions, the Ministry notes that road traffic injuries in Ghana have not declined in recent years.

The alert identifies key risk factors such as poor visibility during the harmattan season, increased vehicular movement, driver fatigue, and unsafe behaviours including speeding, drunk and drug-impaired driving, dangerous overtaking, and failure to use seat belts and helmets.

Stressing that most of these risks are human-made and preventable, the Ministry urged drivers, riders, passengers and pedestrians to take personal responsibility for road safety, while reaffirming government’s commitment to protecting lives during the festive season.

The Ministry’s warning is timely, necessary and sadly familiar. Every December, Ghana’s roads become scenes of avoidable tragedy. What should be a season of joy, reunion and gratitude too often turns into a period of mourning, with news bulletins dominated by mangled vehicles, mass casualties and grieving families.

The recurring nature of these warnings raises a troubling question: why do we keep repeating the same mistakes, despite knowing the causes and the solutions?

Locally, Christmas and Easter consistently record spikes in crashes because of long-distance travel, commercial pressure on drivers to make multiple trips and social activities that involve alcohol consumption.

The Chronicle holds the view that the Ministry is right to emphasise that human behaviour is at the heart of the problem. Speeding, drunk driving and reckless overtaking are choices, not inevitabilities. Studies across Africa show that excessive speed alone significantly increase both the likelihood of a crash and the severity of injuries sustained.

Similarly, alcohol impairs judgment, reaction time and coordination yet festive seasons often normalise drinking and driving as a social habit rather than a deadly risk. The non-use of seat belts and helmets further compounds the danger, turning survivable crashes into fatal ones.

However, public education alone is not enough. Ghana has no shortage of road safety campaigns, slogans and seasonal warnings. What is lacking is consistent enforcement and systemic accountability.

Countries that have successfully reduced road deaths did so not merely by appealing to conscience, but by making dangerous behaviour costly and inconvenient. Random breath testing, speed cameras, strict penalties for traffic violations and visible police presence have been proven to deter risky conduct. In Ghana, enforcement often intensifies briefly during festivities and fades soon after, allowing bad habits to return.

 

Infrastructure is another silent contributor that deserves attention. Poor road lighting, faded markings, potholes, unregulated roadside markets and inadequate pedestrian walkways increase risk, especially during the harmattan, when visibility is already compromised.

Motorcyclists and tricycle riders who form a growing share of road users are particularly vulnerable. Without dedicated lanes or enforced helmet laws, they remain exposed to life-altering injuries.

Road safety, therefore, must be integrated into transport planning, urban design and local government decision-making, not treated as a seasonal concern.

Passengers and pedestrians, as the Ministry notes, also have a role to play. The culture of silence where passengers observe reckless driving but say nothing out of fear or resignation must change. Speaking up can save lives.

Likewise, pedestrians must resist unsafe crossings and use designated walkways, even when enforcement appears lax. Road safety is a collective contract; when one group abdicates responsibility, everyone pays the price.

Beyond the immediate human cost, road crashes impose a heavy economic burden. They drain the health system through emergency care, surgeries, rehabilitation and long-term disability management.

Families lose breadwinners, children drop out of school and productivity declines. According to international estimates, road traffic injuries cost countries between 1–3% of their GDP annually resources Ghana can ill afford to lose, especially amid economic constraints.

As Christmas approaches, The Chronicle believes the Ministry’s alert should not be treated as routine background noise. It should be a call to action for drivers to slow down, for authorities to enforce the law without fear or favour, and for communities to reject the normalisation of road deaths. Celebrations should not come at the cost of amputations, orphaned children and preventable funerals.

If Ghana is serious about safeguarding lives, road safety must move from seasonal warnings to year-round priority. This Christmas, the most meaningful gift we can give one another is simple: patience on the road, respect for the law, and the resolve that no celebration is worth a human life.

 

 

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