Accidents On Our Roads And Matters Arising
It is said that life is precious. But human life is more precious than any other life. The whole universe will be valueless without human lives. There are lot of resources created by God with substantial value in them but these resources are worthless if human beings are not in existence. That is why the loss of a life is hurting. It is even more hurting when that life is lost pre-maturely especially through an accident.
The carnage and the wreckage on our roads as a nation are just too much and we seem not to care. Any time an accident is reported in the media, we are only told the number of lives lost to death and injury. We are not told of the effects of the carnage on the families of the deceased and the injured. We are not told of the emotional and the economic trauma the dependents of the deceased and the injured, [in most cases, these are breadwinners of their families] go through.
We cannot prevent all accidents from happening. At best, we can as a nation put in place certain pragmatic measures to minimise their occurrence. I believe it is about time something serious was done on stationary vehicles on our roads. We must be serious in enforcing laws regarding stationary vehicles on our roads because they have been responsible for most fatal accidents on our roads. In this age of mobile telecommunication, it should not take more than sixty minutes to clear a stationary
vehicle off the road.
I think it is about time we legislated on paying premiums for vehicles that breakdown on our roads so that the insurance fund can be made available for a body, may be, the Fire Service to procure trucks for towing stationary vehicles to safer spots. We can give attention to stationary vehicles just as we do for fire outbreak!
As I have already indicated, the cost of the lives lost and maimed in these accidents cannot easily be measured. What are we doing as a nation to support the dependents of those who lose their lives and limbs through some of these avoidable accidents?
I believe some compulsory accident insurance can help in this direction. I am not referring to motor insurance because this is insurance on the vehicle and not the lives in the vehicle. Even when human lives are covered under this policy, the benefits are meagre and cannot in any way sustain the dependents. I am referring to a compulsory insurance that covers only the lives in the vehicle.
Let us all rise and get involved in fashioning out a national solution for the menace and the carnage on our roads in both preventable and controllable ways so as to make our roads and travelling safer. Today, it is somebody else’s life that is lost or maimed, tomorrow it may be you or me. A word to the wise is enough!!!!
By: George Kojo Addison, CEO of StarLife Assurance Company Ltd.
gaddison@starlife.com.gh , Source B&FT