By Kofi Asare, Educational Advocate
These days, everywhere you go in Accra, people are talking about the new traffic-tech policy. The cameras, the gadgets, the speed limits. Some drivers are angry. They say the system is slowing them down and causing traffic.
But let us be honest with ourselves. Speed limits do not cause traffic congestion. What they do is promote better time management, discipline, respect for time, and most importantly, they save lives.
Let me give you a simple example. You have a meeting at 11:00 a.m. in Osu. You live in Adenta. You already know that if you drive at 40 km/h, the journey will take you about an hour. So why leave home at 10:15 a.m. and then blame the road when you arrive late?
Leave home at least 90 minutes before your meeting. Give yourself an extra 30 minutes for unexpected traffic delays. That is all. The solution is not to drive faster, but to plan better, as our friends in Europe have learned to do.
If this requires waking up early, let’s adjust. If it requires not talking too much in the morning, reducing screen time, let’s oblige. After all, we all comply when abroad. When we travel to London or America, we obey the speed limit without arguing. We wear our seatbelts. We stop at the red light. Nobody complains there. Why should home be different?
And you don’t even need a speed sign to remind you that you are driving through human settlements. When you see houses, children going to school, women selling at the market, just slow down. Just follow the max 40 rule. It is common sense. It is respect for life.
This is not just about driving, it is about how we teach ourselves and our children to value time and life. If a child learns from his father that being late is normal and speeding is the solution, he will grow up with the same habit. But if he sees his father wake up early, plan his journey, and arrive safely, he learns discipline.
In the end, the road will not adjust for us. We must adjust for the road.
The road does not owe speed to the man who failed to respect time. Larteh Proverb
So, what do you think? Are you willing to leave home 30 minutes earlier to save a life?
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