Address causes of gridlocks

Media reports have it that there are gridlocks on the roads from elsewhere into the national capital, Accra ahead of the yuletide.

This is not strange because gridlocks have become daily features of Accra and other cities, with some big towns also having begun experiencing them.

Gridlocks, on the surface, give an impression that the number of vehicles being bought by residents of a place is increasing, but further analysis can reveal defects in the physical planning of communities and this seems to be the case in Ghana.

Accra and other communities in the country are poorly planned with regard to failure to provide enough rat runs to ease congestion on the major roads.

This problem needs to be fixed otherwise the gridlock problem in the country would persist and increase, compounding all the ills associated with it.

In this regard, there is the need for the assemblies to revisit their master plans to see where they can do demolitions and pave the way for proper planning of communities.

This is important because but for the improper planning and encroachment, some drivers can avoid certain roads and streets for those that could have taken them to their destinations earlier and without sweat.

It is very difficult to imagine how in some communities individual house owners have encroached on spaces meant for roads or streets, causing traffic congestion where there should not be none.

That means the negative attitudes of some members of the public, including drivers, is part of the problem and this shows in many ways.

Leaving breakdown vehicles on the road, parking and or loading at unauthorised places and wanting to take vehicles to even difficult-to-reach places in the cities are serious causes of the problem.

One wonders why all these are happening without the law-enforcement agencies taking any decisive action.

Since vehicle ownership is growing by the day, only law enforcement can help check some of the causes of gridlocks and ensure some sanity on the roads in Accra and elsewhere.

Besides, the government should begin to have some designated places outside the city centre for vehicle owners to park and board public buses only to their workplaces in the inner city.

One other cause of the gridlock in Accra in particular is that the city seems to be the only place in the country where most of the citizenry believe they can at least eke some living or get to buy things at good prices, so they should come there by all means.

This should engage the attention of the authorities and conscientiously spread development equitably to other big towns across the regions to stop some people from coming to Accra.

Gridlocks cannot be wished away because movement by means of vehicles has become unavoidable feature of the modern life.

For some reasons, some people would, for instance, have to live outside Accra and other cities to commute between their places of abode and the cities for work and other activities.

This is to state that by all means people would go to the city and that would increase traffic congestion there.

However, due to the evil effects of gridlocks, the powers that be should do whatever they can to address the problem, not by way of eliminating it completely, as that is impossible, but tackling head-on causes that are avoidable.

Gridlocks cause environmental pollution, tiredness, stress and other psychological problems, while forcing drivers, commuters and even some pedestrians to inhale carbon monoxide, which can eventually cause cardiovascular diseases.

It is, therefore, about the time the state considered ways to ease the situation.