George Bush Highway - A Death Trap Or Sheer Indiscipline?

�Have you seen those standing there, they will cross right now, look! They are crossing, they don�t fear the cars,� says 25 year-old Mari, a petty trader who sells along the newly-constructed 14-km N1 Highway at Old Achimota. �They cross here every morning, the old, young, women, men and children, cross the street, just look at them,� Mari says. �I will not risk my life like that.� This road, which is a gift from the American government through the Millennium Challenge Account, has suddenly become a killing field, swallowing human beings like a demented hen. But unlike Mari, who would rather use the footbridge located one kilometer away from the bus stop to cross the road, many people who live along the three-lane dual carriage N1 Highway, called the George Walker Bush Highway, do otherwise. They wait for the road to be less busy and run across six lanes to the other side. Others also overlook the bridge and cross right under it to the other side of the road. Pedestrians claim it is faster to cross the road when cars are far off than having to walk about a kilometer to the footbridge. Some unfortunate pedestrians who have crossed the road had to pay dearly for their misconduct. Speeding cars and trucks have often knocked down pedestrians who tried crossing the road. Georgina Agyeiwaa aka Wuzeee, a cocoyam and plantain roaster at the Abofu near Achimota, close to the new road, recounts the incident that led to the death of one of her neighbours Sister Regina, a sachet water seller, three weeks ago. She says a speeding car knocked down Regina and another passed over her, killing her in the process. Regina, who had two children, was killed when she was crossing the road to serve a buyer who wanted to buy a sachet of water. �We will be having her final funeral rites very soon,� Agyeiwaa says. Regina, together with others, had had to pay with her life crossing the N1 road which runs from Tetteh Quarshie Interchange to Mallam Junction in Accra. But the situation has not deterred other pedestrians from crossing the road even at places where accidents have occurred. �They are not disturbed by the people killed on the road, they just don�t care, they still cross the road even at places where cars have knocked and killed people,� Mari says.