(KOFORIDUA) NEW JUABEN : Residents unhappy

Residents of Koforidua Old Estate SSNIT flat have threatened to mount a road block on the ongoing Atekyem highway to bar drivers from using that stretch of the road, which links Suhum and Tafo, if the government fails to consider constructing speed ramps.

The road, which is under construction  by China Water and Electricity , a Chinese construction firm, is to help solve the traffic congestion problem on the main Koforidua road that links Suhum, Tafo and its environs , when completed.

However,the good intention by the government to make the road accessible to road users,particularly drivers, has turned it into a death trap, as there was not single day residents wake up from their beds without receiving bad news.

The road, even before it is handed over to the Ministry of Roads and Transport, between the month of January and July, this year has recorded about 10 accidents, with six lives lost, and many sustaining various degrees of injuries, with most victims being school children.

One area which  is gradually becoming an accident spot on the road, if the speed ramps are not constructed, is the T- junction that links residents of the flat and the new road.

According to the residents, in order to bring to a halt the rampant accidents, the ministry should consider constructing speed ramps on the road, prior to reaching the T-junction, to check over speeding and reckless driving by drivers who use the road.

What appeared to have triggered the anger of the residents was an accident which nearly sent a 12 year old boy into his grave.

It occured in the early hours of last Saturday July 24.

According to an eyewitness account, the boy, whose name was not readily known as at the time of filing this report, was standing by the shoulders of the road close to the T-junction in a bid to cross when a driver of a KIA truck belonging to the Electricity Company of Ghana knocked him down.

CHRONICLE/AMA