Darkness on our streets: Motorists and pedestrians raise safety concerns

Safety on most major roads across the country is being compromised owing to non-functioning of streetlights.

In Kumasi, the situation according to city authorities, continue to contribute to the surge in pedestrian knockdowns and fatalities.

Records from the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) indicates, between January and June 2024, more than 186 pedestrians have died from vehicular knockdowns in Kumasi alone and most of these incidents occurred at night.

“Driving at night on some major roads within Greater Kumasi is not the best because of poor visibility. We know all our streets cannot be lighten up, but at least the assemblies should illuminate some of the major roads to enhance pedestrian safety”, Ashanti Regional Manager of NRSA, Kwasi Agyenim Boateng suggests.

While some streetlights work intermittently, others have remained non-functional for a long period of time posing a threat to the safety of motorists and pedestrians.

The streetlights meant to enhance visibility at night have rather turned into a decorative facility.

Notable roads without functioning streetlights are the Asokwa-Anloga junction new road, Sussuanso-Tech junction road, and Atonsu-Agogo-Esreso road among others.

The darkness on the streets is not only causing road fatalities but contributing to crime.

“This stretch, anytime they fix the streetlight, it doesn’t function for more than a week. And when the lights are off, criminals take advantage of the darkness to rob and hurt passers-by”, a pedestrian, Kate Betty shares.

Augustine Hedonu, a resident of Anloga also laments the increasing crime on the street due to the constant darkness.

“There is a bus stop few meters from here and walking there is very dangerous because of the darkness. I’ve personally been robbed there at night. Authorities should fix the streetlights”.

A commercial driver, Issaka Musah states that “using this road is dangerous because of poor visibility. When someone or an animal is crossing, you hardly see and it often leads to knockdowns. If the lights were to be functioning, most of these knockdowns could be avoided”.

Chief Executive of Kumasi metropolis, Samuel Pyne in his response to the troubling issue explains ” through the Members of Parliaments and assemblies, we are distributing 50 pieces to all the electoral areas for installation at where there is darkness. We are working assiduously towards that. We’ve also been in touch with the police to help with the arrest of people vandalising and stealing the cables”.

Road users want city authorities to fix all the streetlights to improve security.

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