Vehicular and pedestrian safety in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional capital, is under serious threat as virtually all traffic lights within the Central Business District (CBD) and other major intersections have broken down, plunging the metropolis into traffic chaos.
Traffic lights, which serve as a critical mechanism for regulating vehicular movement and ensuring the safety of pedestrians, are currently non-functional, leaving thousands of road users to their fate on a daily basis.
A comprehensive tour by the Oseikrom 98.7 fm news team across the city has revealed a worrying and dangerous situation. From the heart of the Kumasi CBD, through the Cultural Centre, the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) Roundabout, Pampaso, to the Maternal and Child Health Hospital enclave, popularly known as Children’s Hospital, all traffic lights are completely off.
According to residents and traders in the affected areas, the situation has persisted for several weeks without any visible sign of repair works or intervention from the authorities.
Chaos, Accidents and Fear Grip Residents
The breakdown has resulted in chaotic traffic scenes, particularly during morning and evening rush hours, when drivers struggle to navigate intersections with no direction, while pedestrians are forced to risk their lives to cross busy roads.
Some concerned residents and motorists who spoke to Oseikrom online portal expressed grave worry, describing the non-functioning traffic lights as a death trap and a major contributor to road accidents in the metropolis.
They disclosed that several cases of pedestrian knockdowns and vehicular collisions have been recorded at some of these intersections in recent weeks, with some incidents resulting in deaths and severe injuries.
“We are sitting on a time bomb. The traffic light at the CBD has not been working for over a month. Every day there is serious confusion here. Just last week a school child was knocked down right here. We are pleading with KMA and Urban Roads to come and fix it before we lose more lives,” a worried resident at Adum told our team.
Another commercial driver who plies the Kejetia – KATH road added that the situation becomes even more life-threatening at night when visibility is poor and there are no traffic wardens to direct traffic.
“At night, it is worse. You can’t see who is coming from where. We have to use torchlight and horns to find our way. It is very dangerous,” he lamented.
Residents Appeal For Urgent Action
The residents and road users are therefore making a passionate appeal to the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), the Department of Urban Roads, and the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council to urgently intervene and fix the faulty traffic lights.
They argue that as Ghana’s second-largest city and a major commercial hub, Kumasi cannot afford to have its entire traffic light system collapse without swift action, as it not only endangers lives but also affects economic activities through unnecessary traffic congestion.
Efforts to get an official response from the Urban Roads Department and the KMA on the cause of the breakdown and when repair works will commence are ongoing.
Meanwhile, road safety advocates have called for the immediate deployment of police MTTD personnel to the major intersections to control traffic and prevent further accidents while awaiting a permanent fix.
