Understanding the relationship between road users and the roadway infrastructure in Ghana

Ghana exemplifies the contribution of road crashes to mortality and morbidity in Africa, partly due to a growing population and increasing car ownership, where fatalities have increased by 12 to 15 % annually since 2008 (National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), 2017). The study described in this paper focused on understanding driver behavior at unsignalized junctions in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Understanding driver behavior at unsignalized junctions is particularly important since failure to stop or yield can seriously affect vulnerable road users. The study's objectives were to develop relationships between driver behavior and junction characteristics. Understanding the characteristics that lead to determining what factors influence a driver's behavioral response at rural junctions provides information for policy makers to determine the best strategies to address these behaviors. The study evaluated stopping behavior at rural junctions. Driver behavior was extracted from video views of ten junctions in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. A total of 3,420 vehicles were observed across all ten junctions during data collection before any analysis was conducted. The type of stop was selected as a surrogate measure of safety. Logistic regression was used to model stopping behavior at the selected junctions. The analysis showed drivers were more likely to stop when going straight (versus a left turn) and left turning vehicles were more likely to stop than right turning vehicles. Additionally, single unit trucks and tro-tros were more likely to stop than other vehicle types. Drivers were also much more likely to stop when channelization, intersection lighting, or speed humps were present. Drivers at junctions with 4-approaches were also more likely to stop than those with 3 approaches. The results from this research contribute valuable information about what factors contribute to positive safety behaviors at rural junctions. This provides guidance for safety professionals to select solutions and can be a valuable tool to predict the economical effectiveness of solutions to addressing junction safety in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) such as Ghana. The results can also provide insight and recommendations to Ghanaian road safety agencies and launch sustainable efforts to raise community awareness toward decreasing road crash fatalities in Ghana.