Driving in Accra is INSANE. If you thought you had road-rage in
the US… you probably want to opt out of driving here. For one, most of the
streets are sans street lights and lane lines which is already a recipe for
disaster. On top of that, Ghanaians drive like they are late. All. The. Time.
Everything is a rush and junctions (intersections) are nothing short of chaotic.
Sadly, I’m not done. In the rainy season
(March-May) it rains a LOT. In order to lessen the probability of flooding, on
each side of the street are 1-2 foot deep ditches running alongside the road.
These are terrifying. I’m surprised that we haven’t witnessed more accidents of
trucks or cars falling into the dreaded ditches. A couple weeks after arriving
we drove past a large truck that had been carrying some type of cargo and had
swerved into the ditch. The truck’s wheel was stuck in the ditch, pitching it
forward and causing it to lose its cargo. As we drove past, we could see at
least ten people gathered around trying to figure out how to get such a large
vehicle out of the dreaded ditch.
The roads in Accra are almost always
filled. The exception is on Sunday when almost every Ghanaian goes to church
and the city becomes a ghost town. On the other days, rush hour is hellish. The
traffic is TERRIBLE and the street hawkers (people on the side of the road who
sell their wares by coming right up to your car window) see their chance and
pounce. Accra is such a large city that everything is incredibly spread out. It
takes about 30 minutes to get from our house to the boy’s school and about
20-25 minutes to get from there to the university. Add the crazy traffic to
this and you might lose your mind.
Some tips I have from anyone planning on
making a trip to Ghana; 1) Buy a big car. Not a small car. I repeat: buy a big
car. Big cars really have the advantage on the roads because it is much easier
to navigate the humps and bumps of the road in a larger car. Big cars are also
an asset to driving as you can use size to your advantage when braving the
junctions because no small car is going to want to try and turn when a larger
car is making its move. 2) If this post has scared you away from driving in the
streets, you can always hop in one of the ubiquitous tro-tros or taxis.
