The high rate of road accidents has been a serious concern for many years and still is. In fact, currently the concern may even be greater  because for this year alone there has probably been hardly a week without a road accident, but more important, many have been fatal.

So the road carnage is continuing to take its toll on our society and this is something that we can ill afford or for that matter any society can ill afford.
The main causes of accidents in our country are of course speeding and drunken driving and despite the many campaigns mounted by the police the problem still persists. Only recently, two students died from road accidents, one a 13-year old and the other a university student;the former was struck by a speeding car and the other rode his motor cycle in a dangerous manner apparently under the influence of alcohol.
Our roads definitely have become busier and more congested because in recent years people are increasingly acquiring their own vehicles, so the rate at which vehicles come on the roads outstrips the rate of expansion of road networks. This is something that happens with higher living standards, and with our economic growth living standards have been rising steadily, particularly over the last 15 years.
It is obvious that with increased traffic the probability of accidents happening increases, therefore there is indeed a need for a thorough review of our road networks with a view to designing and building new ones to cope with the increasing traffic currently and in the future.
However, expanded and modernised road networks are only part of the solution to reduce the number of accidents. The major problem which has to be tackled is the attitude of our road users: motorists, cyclists and pedestrians display a careless, reckless and lawless attitude .And in all fairness to the police there is only so much they can do. The real change has to come from within road users who need to observe the five Cs at all times. Unfortunately, this is not happening and the end result is the road carnage we are experiencing.
The lawlessness of road users is probably a microcosm of the larger problem of a breakdown of lawful and disciplined behaviour in the wider society, and this will definitely make the task of changing attitudes more challenging. We even have the police, who are supposed to be the ones to uphold and enforce the law, flouting the laws. Therefore we are in a bad state as regards respect for the law.
What is worrisome is that people know that speeding and driving under the inluence of alcohol are dangerous and therefore pose  threats to lives and limbs, but for some inexplicable reason(s) they still engage in such practices.
We surely cannot allow this state of affairs to continue and as such efforts have to be re-doubled to help prevent this wastage of lives and limbs on our roads. But this task cannot be left to any one agency;it has to be a collective effort by all and sundry.
We need to also ensure that the laws and regulations are strictly enforced; there are optimal safety measures on our roads; and an intensified education and awareness programme on road safety.