Life in Ghana: Driving in Accra

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.