AfriPulse
It was a Friday, 4:23 a. m., June 5, 2025, The sound of an alarm usually wakes me up, but on that very dawn, my phone rang; a phone call.
A stranger’s voice came through, heavy and rehearsed: “This is Dr Tamakloe from Tamale Teaching Hospital.
Your father was rushed here late last night after a motor accident.
He passed away, sorry”.
Across many urban and peri-urban roads in Ghana, the hum of motorcycles and tricycles, “Okada and Pragia,” has become the soundtrack of modern mobility.
Once hailed as a convenient fix for traffic congestion and inadequate public transport, these three wheels are now writing obituaries.
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What was meant to bridge transport gaps is fast becoming a public safety crisis.
“We see five to eight okada-related cases daily, most at times,” Ms Eugene, a nurse at The Trauma and Specialist Hospital, said.
This trend is not just accidental.
It is driven by a mix of economic desperation and regulatory failure.
Unemployment pipeline; with 1.3 million youth being unemployed in the third quarter of 2025, according to the Ghana Statistical Service, many young men turn to okada and pragia riding as a quick source of income.Ghanaian News Portal
Mandatory rider training and licensing must be enforced by DVLA before any commercial rider gets a licence.
“You can’t give a man a gun without teaching him to shoot safely”.
Not leaving the National Road Safety Authority, campaigns focused on “speed kills” all the time can also be turned to “Helmet Saves”.
If left unchecked, the very rides that symbolise mobility and opportunity will continue their descent into instruments of ruin.
The time to act is now, before more journeys end in sirens instead of safe arrivals.
Source: TheGhanaReport | Read the Full Story…
