Bus stops turned into lorry parks worsening traffic congestion

The exceptionally high vehicular traffic characteristic of the pre-Christmas season in Accra and other capital towns in Ghana has become an annual ritual that gets worsened by sheer indiscipline on the part of some drivers, mostly the ones in charge of commercial transport vehicles.

The Motor Transport and Traffic Directorate (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service can do so much but the real solution largely remains in the bosom of reckless drivers who would simply not respect road traffic regulations.

It is not uncommon to find commercial transport vehicles parked forever at bus stops as though the bus stops were lorry stations.

Instead of a quick stop over to drop-off or pick passengers, some of these vehicle drivers literally park and start to call for passengers.

They are joined by other equally undisciplined drivers  and in no time, their vehicles completely block off the bus stop and spill over onto the main road, obstructing other road users who have to slow down to avoid a crash.

This slowing down to avoid crashing into vehicles parked at the wrong places ends up contributing to the vehicular congestion.

In other instances, it is not even the issue of turning bus stops into lorry parks but the drivers literally stop in the middle of the road, just to pick passengers.

When that happens, all vehicles driving behind them have no choice but to also stop. What on earth the motivation of such drivers, may be, beats the mind.

How many of such idiots can the MTTD arrest and even if they are sent to court and found guilty, which cells would they be kept when the existing cells are already filled up even beyond acceptable intakes.

The New Publisher admits that vehicular congestion has multiple causes including bad roads, bad weather, the unexpected influx of humans and human activities in a particular area, technical causes such as broken down vehicles or even the construction of roads.

When that happens, all road users suffer the consequence.

But it is simply absurd when avoidable human factors become the main cause of such congestions.

It is strange that the same humans who cause the congestion suffer for it yet turn round to complain

Perhaps, as a country, we have not fully discussed the effects of traffic congestion on the economy.

Aside the fact that it increases fuel expenses, increases vehicle emissions into the environment, just sitting and traveling for longer hours on a journey that can be made short and faster certainly slows economic growth.

The human body even becomes tired and exhausted in the traffic and slows output and productivity at work.

When people are so deficit in their thinking that they start to normalize the abnormal, there is very little the law enforcement agents can do.