Citation

Konkor I, Kansanga M, Sano Y, Antabe R, Luginaah I. Travel Behav. Soc. 2019; 15: 157-165.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.tbs.2019.03.001

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The Ghana National Road Safety Commission indicates that over 2,200 people were involved in motorcycle accidents (MCAs) nationwide in 2016 partly due to the increased usage of motorcycles for commercial and private purposes. Several studies on the causes of MCAs in Ghana however, have focused on rational factors such as over speeding, drunk riding, fatigue, age and gender. What is less understood is the role of sociocultural construction of risk and community perceptions about MCAs. Using a mixed methods approach involving surveys and focus group discussions, this paper examines community perceptions of MCAs in the Upper West Region (UWR) of Ghana.

FINDINGS show that sociocultural misconceptions of accidents as outcomes of supernatural causes (OR = 1.41, P < 0.1) significantly contribute to the increased incidence of MCAs in the UWR. These sociocultural constructions seem to supersede critical explanatory factors of accidents such as alcohol consumption (OR = 1.91, P < 0.01) and over speeding (OR = 1.48, P < 0.05) in the context of poor road infrastructure. Apart from focusing on road traffic regulations and infrastructural development, this paper calls for the need to incorporate a sociocultural dimension into ongoing road safety programs to minimise these deeply rooted culturally-motivated misconceptions and attributions of MCAs to supernatural causes.

Language: en

Keywords

Ghana; Motorcycle accidents; Sociocultural construction of risk; Upper West Region