For the past week, commuters and drivers who use the Kumasi Airport Roundabout, a popular and busy intersection in the Kumasi Metropolis, have been forced to endure a heavy vehicular traffic.
This because a truck with a foreign registration number loaded with metal has not been towed a week after it overturned in the middle of the road.
The Kumasi Airport Roundabout, one of the busiest intersections in the Ashanti Region, connects commuters to various parts of the Ashanti Region and the country.
It also connects travelers especially heavy trucks to neighbouring Burkina Faso, Togo, Niger, and Ivory Coast.
The inability of those in charge to ensure the overturned truck is towed away from the road has resulted in heavy vehicular traffic on the stretch.
The roundabout, which is a major intersection to the Kumasi Airport, makes it even busier when dignitaries like the President of Ghana and other government officials are visiting the Ashanti Region.
Some drivers and other road users who spoke to Citinewsroom.com expressed concern about the heavy vehicular traffic created by the situation.
Aside from the potholes that have developed at the intersection which is a worry to drivers, the truck, which has been left in the middle of the road, is compounding their discomfort.
“Someone in authority must ensure these trucks are towed away when they fall, but this is not the case. This is affecting productivity”, a driver lamented
The situation has made the intersection narrow and commuters fear this can result in an accident if not addressed quickly.
Accidents caused by faulty stationary trucks that take a long time to be towed are common in Ghana. Nonetheless, authorities have not taken the needed steps to end this practice.
STC bus ran into faulty truck; 2 dead, others injured
Just last week, two lives were lost after an Intercity STC bus ran into a faulty articulated truck on the Accra-Kumasi Highway in the early hours of Wednesday, June 16, 2021.
The Suhum Police Command in a statement reported that “a 45-year-old driver, Abdul Raman Haruna, was driving a MAN Diesel Articulated truck with registration number GC-7150-11 from the Kumasi direction towards Accra. On reaching a section of the road at Akim Asafo about 12:00 am, the truck developed a mechanical fault. The suspect driver abandoned the truck on the road without informing the nearest Police station.”
1,000 persons killed in road crashes from January to April 2021 – NRSA
Road crashes have killed more than 1,000 people in the country from January to April 2021.
This was disclosed by Mrs. May Obiri Yeboah, the Director-General of the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) on Thursday, May 20, 2021.
She said last year, 2,500 people died from road crashes, adding that the figure is the highest since 1991.
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