Part VI navigated the contributions of LED headlights, other lights and enforcement to the carnage on our roads.
This part intends to peruse the contributions of driver fatigue, speed limits, load security and State responsibility to the carnage on our roads.
The University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) University of Cape Coast (UCC) Branch lost a member and his Teaching Assistant (TA) through a Road Traffic Accident (RTA) on Tuesday, 28th April 2026 in Cape Coast. May their souls rest in eternal peace! If there is the need for members to contribute and support the bereaved families, UTAG-UCC should notify some of us in UEW.
In a bid to curb accidents arising out of driver fatigue, the UK Government operationalised the provisions of Regulation (EC) 561/2006 in respect of driving hours rules. This Regulation applies to most commercial goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes and passenger vehicles with more than 8 seats. These rules ensure safety, requiring strict adherence to driving limits, breaks, and rest periods.
The daily driving limit is maximum 9 hours, which can be extended to 10 hours no more than twice a week. The weekly driving limit is a maximum of 56 hours in any single week. The fortnightly driving limit is a maximum of 90 hours in any two consecutive weeks.
A regular daily rest period is at least 11 hours within every 24-hour period or reduced to 9 hours (up to 3 times between weekly rests).
Some Mandatory Breaks are:
4.5 Hour Rule: After a driving period of 4 hrs 30 mins, the driver must take a break of at least 45 minutes.
Weekly Rest Periods: A regular weekly rest period is at least 45 hours. A reduced weekly rest period can be taken (minimum 24 hours), but it must be compensated for by an equivalent period of rest taken in one block before the end of the third week following the reduced week.
This is just a snapshot of the driving hours’ rules in the UK.
The above is monitored 24/7 by a digital tachograph (the size of an in-car tape) installed in the vehicle. This is an advanced, tamper-proof device Mandatory for all commercial vehicles over 3.5 tonnes in the UK. Its primary purpose is to automatically record crucial data regarding the vehicle’s operation and the driver’s activity to ensure safety, fair competition, and legal compliance. The device records the driver’s activity in the last 28 days and is equipped with a printer and the driver MUST always carry a spare printer roll in addition to the one in the device. The spare printer roll is to ensure that there will be no excuse by the driver when stopped by officials of the UK DVSA that the printer roll has run out.
Drivers are issued with a personal credit/debit-card-sized smart card with a microchip, photo, and signature, that MUST be inserted into the device at the start of every journey to log driving hours, rest periods, and work activities.
The UK DVSA enforces this 24/7, through random checks on the road. They have no fixed barriers like the case of Ghana for offending drivers to predict their location and avoid them. They patrol the UK highways 24/7. Any driver caught violating the Rules is processed for court and barred temporarily from driving immediately. The owner(s) of the vehicle is required to send another driver to the location of the vehicle to pick it up.
Do we have driving hours Rules in Ghana to curb driver fatigue? Absolutely none! A driver in Ghana can operate a truck or bus for a whole year without a minute rest, and no one sees anything wrong with that. This to a greater extent amounts to a ‘traffic crime’ that the Managers of this country are committing against Ghanaians.
Some commercial drivers in Ghana only get a rest when their vehicle breakdown or it is being loaded or unloaded.
Another major contributor to the chaos on Ghana roads is failure on the part of the State to enforce speed limits.
In Europe, where the roads are mostly in excellent condition, it is mandatory to fix speed limiters in all commercial vehicles over 3.5 tonnes MGW (a normal articulator truck is either 38 tonnes or 44 tonnes MGW). About 99% of articulator trucks in Ghana are abnormal. No truck manufacturer in a responsible country will fix more than 3 axles on a goods trailer, except Suame Magazine, Kumasi, Ghana, where we don’t have the knowledge to manufacture a vehicle, but sadly equipped with criminal ability to crudely modify trucks to better serve as ‘weapons of mass destruction’ on our roads.
The digital tachograph restricts a vehicle’s maximum speed by managing engine power, improving safety, fuel efficiency, and regulatory compliance. It works by restricting fuel supply or airflow when a set speed is reached. It is also essential for fleet management.
In the UK, speed limits for buses, coaches, and Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) like trucks and articulator trucks, are generally lower than for cars. For instance, 30 mph (48 km/h) in built-up areas, 50 mph (80 km/h) on single carriageways (Winneba – Cape Coast Highway), and 60 mph (96 km/h) on dual carriageways and motorways. HGVs must also have speed limiters capped at 56 mph (90 km/h), despite the 60 mph limit.
In Ghana, HGVs and buses are left to decide their own speed, as such, they are licensed to maim and kill at will as is currently being witnessed on our roads.
And this is a country that doesn’t have just one standard motorway or a very good dual carriageway? The Accra – Tema ‘motorway’ doesn’t meet the standard of a true and proper motorway, since pedestrians are permitted on it and there are unapproved exits and entries on that road.
Load security is another area of concern in Ghana. It appears no one is held responsible for unsecured load in Ghana, hence the lawlessness on our roads.
In the UK, both the driver and the operator of the vehicle (owner), are held responsible for the unsafe carriage of load and overloading, therefore, both parties (drivers and operators) take steps to ensure that the vehicle is loaded within the permissible axle weight, and the load is properly secured.
It is a common sight on Ghana roads to come across vehicles that have spilled their load on the road, obstructing traffic and causing unnecessary delays to other motorists, and no one sees anything wrong with that.
The worst offenders when it comes to unsecured load are flatbeds carrying containers.
In countries where the lives of the citizens matter, twist locks on a flatbed container trailer are Mandatory. These are positioned to match the International Standardisation Organisation (ISO) standard corner castings of shipping containers, generally located at the four corners of a standard 20ft or 40ft container. These locks are either fixed or retractable, ensuring the container remains securely fastened during the entire journey.
In the UK, no flatbed picks up a container without twist locks to secure it, hence it is impossible for the container to fall off the trailer. If there should be a fall, then the vehicle will go down with the container.
In Ghana, straps (which are meant to be used inside the trailer to hold the load tightly in delivery vehicles), are dangerously used to hold the container to the flatbed. Deploying a strap in this manner is as useless as attempting to kill a marauding tiger with a footwear.
It is not surprising that when a vehicle carrying a container in Ghana goes round a bend at abnormal speed, the container usually falls off the vehicle. There have been reports in the media, where containers have fallen off trucks at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle overpass in Accra or the Kejetia roundabout in Kumasi, which landed on other motorists or pedestrians, killing some and maiming others, and the whole system appears to run out of ideas to curb the negligence.
The solution to this and the over speeding is very simple. Government should pass a law making it Mandatory for all flatbeds carrying containers to have working twist locks which MUST be in use when transporting a container. Also, the law should make it Mandatory for all commercial vehicles to be fitted with speed limiters. What is the difficulty in this? Parliament, it is submitted, is not just for walkouts and yeah yeah!
With regards to State responsibility, in the UK, the State plays a crucial role in reducing RTAs associated with driver fatigue in several ways.
For instance, there are regular adverts on UK motorways (billboards and gantries), advising drivers to take a rest. The most popular one on UK motorways is “tiredness can kill, take a break”. Others include running adverts on radio advising drowsy drivers to lower their windows and let in fresh air, and to stop at the nearest motorway service station, in the case of Ghana that will be Linda Dor at Bunso Junction or Kintampo Station; take some hot coffee and take a walk around. If the drowsiness still persists after all this, then the driver ought to take a nap.
Other adverts sponsored by the UK Government include advising motorists to monitor their tyres condition and pressure regularly.
However, in Ghana, most commercial vehicles tyres are usually inflated to the extent that they can carry the load put on the vehicle and NOT according to any safety level. Even a baby in the mother’s womb can guess the likely outcome of this.
The UK Government also advises motorists to do away with unnecessary items onboard their vehicles to reduce the weight which ultimately results in less fuel consumption.
One wonders what exactly the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) of Ghana is doing to prevent you and I from being killed wrongfully on the road, which is fraudulently referred to as accidental in this part of the world!!
Part VIII loading …..
Alhassan Salifu Bawah
(son of an upright peasant farmer)
