Improving road safety through speed management in Accra

Akuba, a first-year student from West Africa Senior High School in Accra, Ghana, was walking to school when she was run over by a speeding taxi on the Madina-Adentan Highway. She lost her life. The incident galvanized the public and ignited local leaders and lawmakers to take up the cause of road safety. With the support of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIRGS) 2015-2019, pedestrian footbridges, new speed limits, crosswalks, and installation of traffic lights were completed in an effort to make roads safer in Ghana. The global impact of the GRSF-led interventions under the Bloomberg Initiative has been profound through road infrastructure management and building capacity in developing countries. In Accra, the BIGRS initiative surveyed and assessed 260 km of roads; completed 74 km of construction based on iRAP survey recommendations; trained 164 professionals on road safety; and prevented over 5,243 potential deaths and serious injuries over 20 years.