Road Indiscipline of the Highest Order!

Scenes like these are not atypical to Ghanaian roads, especially when the roads are as smooth as here.

This, though, does take the biscuit. A big vehicle like this has a centre of gravity disproportionate to the speed. I hope to work to a day when we use more of our cameraphones to snap such road indiscipline...

Wherever you may be, enjoy the weekend--and travel safe!

Heading towards Traffic...on the Spintex Road

No-one likes going into traffic. Here, I'm the passenger having taken a shot of the taxi-driver who is driving me home towards the Spintex Road, some ten minutes drive from the nation's airport.

I doubt the taxi-driver likes going into it either!!

(As a result of it being Africa Union Day, tomorrow 25 May, I shall be off till Monday. For the first time-ever, I shall post pictures in advance!...and be sure to make it a habit!);-)

Accra--From a Car Rooftop

Life is dull if we habitually ride within the ambit of convention. That's no quote! It's yours truly speaking, and I do believe that.

There's a quote, from the Jerusalem Talmud, that acts as my screensaver for my mobile, and it reads:

"A person will be called to account on judgment day for every permissible thing that he might have enjoyed but did not."

Here are no stunts, but simply me having some fun with my POLAROID digital camera. I stuck my hand out of the window, being very careful not to drop my camera, given the speed my Dad was travelling, and took a shot of the capital of Accra behind us..as we left it for the Central region some two weeks ago.

That strap is from my camera, and I'm sure you can probably see some cars behind us;-)

Good and Straight Ghanaian Roads Invite...

Well, they invite pretty much anything, but, like, the proverbial straight road anywhere, it invites speed.

We all know speed kills, but motorists need it drummed into them that a road this beautiful, and replete even with greenery on both sides is as bound to kill you if you fail to--as they say in Belgium--lever le pied, or lift that foot off the accelerator!

This picture is a snapshot of the Accra-Cape Coast road that links the Greater Accra Region to the Central Region of the country. It also forms part of the Trans West African Highway Network, which I referred to yesterday

Travelling Safely on the Ghanaian Roads, Onetouch Reminds Us to Drive with Care

My absence from here was due in part to a funeral I had to attend in my maternal grandmother's home town. Now, this town is some 1.5 hours away from the capital by road, and forms part of what has now become known as the Trans West African Highway Network, supposed to connect some of the West African countries together

[- Damane (Liberia border) 26 km in Côte d’Ivoire ;

- Bloloquin-Toulepleu-(Liberia border) 64 km - Côte d’Ivoire

- Ganta-Tappita-Douanes Tobli-Blay (Côte d’Ivoire border): 15 km in Liberia ;

- Bandajuma-Zimmi-Mru Bridge (Liberia border) : 97 km, in Sierra Leone ;

- Freetown-Pamelap (Guinea border : 126 km, in Sierra Leone;

- Boke (Guinea) - Quebo (Guinea Bissau) : 206 km

- Akatsi/Dzodze (Togo border): 31 km in Ghana ;

- Noepe-Hilla Condji (Benin border) : 80 km, in Togo. ]

In effect, the so-called Trans-West African Highway Network has been comprehensively completed since last week, prompting joys that the ECOWAS link-up is becoming more of a reality.

Sadly, it's coming at a cost, as exemplified by last Thursday's eerie accident that involved two articulators travelling at top speed in opposite directions; the helping of Ghanaian motorists of passengers of an overturned bus (comprising West Africans from Cote d' Ivoire, Liberia, Benin, Nigeria and Togo) resulting in their deaths as the second articulator hit them at top speed (after having lost control). Altogether, seven vehicles were involved in the very sad loss of lives that claimed 40 people.

The road on which this happened goes to one of Ghana's premier tourist regions--the Central Region, where there is much more greenery than in the capital of Accra.

The roads are so good and so speed-inducing it's not funny. Regrettably, badly-educated and opportunistic (not to mention tired) articulator truck drivers take advantage of these good roads and act as death merchants.

To remind Ghanaian motorists of the importance of preserving lives, my favourite network, Ghana's mobile network--Onetouch--has erected billboards throughout the highway that spans several kilometres, reminding drivers not just they can connect to ONETOUCH in the area they have passed, but that "life is precious, drive with care".

A publicity stunt, notwithstanding, it's important to read that as you cruise from one region to the next.

(May those West Africans who lost their lives, as well as those Ghanaians who stopped to help them, ending up killed, rest in perfect peace)

Need your Windscreen (in Accra) Cleaned?

I think I can already see some people shifting uncomfortably as this guy approaches towards the car. Not to worry: it's a regular refrain in Accra's traffic, sometimes, in some parts of town.

These guys are only trying to make a quick buck, but doing something to force you to give them a buck. In this case, a cedi;-)

Better than being an armed robber, no?

this picture was taken some five minutes drive away from the country's main airport in Accra

From an Open Road in Accra...

Check out the placard to the left of this picture...Melcom is a Indian**-owned shop, where you can buy home appliances, and quality goods. They claim "where quality costs less", and have been running a month-running ad, using the song with the lyrics "tempted to touch, tempted to touch...". They've substituted it to the naff lyrics of "melcom, where quality costs le------------sss. tempted to touch, tempted to touch...". You get the picture, I guess?:-))


...to standby-traffic on a cool, Monday morning, where an opportunistic newspaper vendor plies his trade.

Yep, he caught me taking a pic! Sue me, dude!:-)

**correction was thanks to a keen eye who emailed me the correction on 11/4/07!