Investigating into driver attitudes and vehicle behaviours as contributory factors to road accidents on Kumasi-Dunkwa trunk road

Abstract

Road traffic accident records indicate that Ashanti Region is the second highest in fatalities in the country and in the Region; the Kumasi–Dunkwa road records the highest road traffic accidents in all the trunk roads. This prompted the researcher to investigate the driver attitudes and the vehicle characteristics that account for this and to suggest appropriate remedial measures to curtail it. The study was necessary and important since road accidents are mostly blamed on road users’ attitudes, especially drivers while the drivers also shift the blame to the vehicle. The study sourced information from the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), the Police Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU), and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) and supplemented with road user questionnaire. Several vehicle factors were investigated and the major defects that were found contributed to road traffic accidents are defective brakes, poor tyres especially used tyres from United Kingdom or USA, over age and structural weakness as well as overloading. The study also established that the major driver attitudes contributing to road traffic accidents in the region are aggressive diving behaviour (which 66% agreed upon), over speeding (where 73.9% agreed), and lastly fatigue (17.9%), which many people believe could be avoided. With regards to road safety awareness 96% of respondents agreed that it is effective in changing driver behaviour and improving safety when combined with education and media campaign. However, enforcement, of safety measures in the region is inadequate which needs to be improved by the enforcement agencies. Based on these findings appropriate remedial measures have been recommended based on the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) strategy, the 3E’s (Engineering, Education, and Enforcement).