Trucks take over lane causing Danger on Odorkor-Mallam Highway

It is becoming a practice for drivers of trucks or articulated vehicles to park on the shoulders of streets in Accra; a situation which poses risks to other road users.

Along the Odorkor-Mallam Highway and some roads in Accra, it is a common sight to find vehicles parked at different locations.

In the last two months, at least one accident occurred at the Busia Junction of the highway. From June to date, a public company was reported to have lost three vehicles partly because there were trucks that had parked along the road.

Public displeasure

The parking of the trucks on the roads has incurred the displeasure of some residents and road users of Odorkor-Busia and its environs.

According to them, the practice, which has existed for the past three years, posed serious danger to them and the children in the area.

Apart from almost taking over a lane of the highway, the articulated trucks have also taken over the pedestrian walkway along the Odorkor-Busia stretch of the highway.

“Now crossing the road from either Busia Junction or at any point where the trucks have parked to the opposite side is not safe since you would have to struggle to look out for oncoming vehicles before crossing the road,” a resident who looked visibly angry told the Daily Graphic in an interview.

Another resident, who wanted to remain anonymous, recounted a recent incident where a child was injured by a broken part of one of the trucks after it had been parked right in front of a house.

The driver never offered any help to the child, neither did he admit that the truck had caused the injury to the child.

Traders and shop owners worried

“The worrying aspect is that the  drivers are very aggressive and the least they could do to you if you dare ask why they have parked in front of your shop is to insult and humiliate you,” the Head of Marketing at the Odorkor branch of the Anointed Electrical Engineering Services, Mrs Ama Ayeh-Danso said.

She added that “For us in this area, if there is something we can do, we will find a way to stop the situation.”

Audrey Bonsu, a shop attendant at the Odorkor branch of Ernest Chemists, also said “Our customers are complaining about the phenomenon since they usually find it difficult to cross the road to the other side after patronising our services.”

She stated that there had been instances when vehicles had knocked down children who made attempts to cross the road to the opposite side due to the difficulties they had to go through to look out for oncoming vehicles because of the wrong parking of the trucks.

An owner of a printing press in the area, Ms Melinda Serwaa Pokuaa, also indicated that the situation was affecting her business and that of others dearly since customers usually turned away because articulated vehicles had parked in front of their shops.

To deter drivers from parking there, Ms Pokuaa said some shop owners had erected “No Parking” signs, but the truck owners had defied them. They usually attack the shop owners verbally if they (shop owners) ask them (truck owners) not to park in front of their shops.

One company in the area which outsources trucks for its operations is the Sunda Ghana Investment Company Limited (SGICL).

Ms Pokuaa, therefore, called on the management of the company to call the truck owners to order.

Odorkor MTTD’s efforts

Despite efforts and various attempts by the Odorkor Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service to stop the activities of these drivers, the situation  persists.

Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Commander of the Odorkor MTTD, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mr Abdullai Mumuni, said some drivers had been arrested on some occasions and charged with various offences, but they had not desisted from parking their vehicles on the road.

In 2012, for instance, ASP Mumuni said, since the trucks worked in the interest of SGICL, the Managing Director of the company, Mr Isaac Hu, was charged with various offences of allowing articulated trucks to park on the shoulders of the road and at the Busia Junction Bus Stop causing danger to road users.

Last two months, some drivers of the articulated trucks were also arrested for wrongful parking after an accident had occurred at the Busia Junction Bus Stop, when a driver of a vehicle ran into one of the trucks.

Those, according to him, were only a few instances when trucks had caused accidents in which other road users and residents had suffered incalculable losses.

Sunda management’s response

In an interview, Mr Hu indicated that although the trucks worked in the interest of the company, they were outsourced, and  therefore, the company could not be blamed for the negligence of the drivers.

He, however, stated that management was doing its best to resolve the situation as soon as possible, adding that “in the interim, the company has secured a parking lot in the area for the trucks to reduce the incidents.”

“The situation is worrying since these drivers have refused to use the parking lot with the view that it is far from the company, and makes it inconvenient for them,” he stressed.

Mr Hu said  the company received a lot of imports or consignment of goods every week.

He assured residents of the company’s determination to reduce the effect of its operations on them.

“It is not in the interest of the company to allow drivers to park wrongly at the inconvenience of residents and pedestrians,” he said.

Mr Hu recounted some instances when some drivers had defied the company’s orders and advice and gone ahead to park wrongly in spite of several warnings and agitations by the police and residents.

“Residents and pedestrians have the right to take legal action against drivers who park at unapproved places,” he said.

As the yuletide approaches, what are the MTTD and the National Road Safety Commission doing to ensure that the articulated trucks parked along the Odorkor-Busia Junction stretch of the Odorkor Highway and any part of the country are halted before something untoward happens?