A Safety Audit of Seven Signalized Intersections in Ghana Based on Crash Data, Video Observations, and Surveys

Signalized intersections require regular safety and performance audits because of their high user demands. Most of the crashes on urban roads are attributed to the condition of signalized intersections. Some typical audit variables comprise vehicle crashes, road markings, signal control, pedestrian-vehicle movements, the composition of the flows, and violations of traffic regulations. This is critical in some sub-Saharan African countries, including Ghana, where transportation is at least 95% road-based and thereby putting excess demand on road infrastructure. Nonetheless, extant literature from sub-Saharan Africa has given little attention to auditing the basic infrastructure and studies focusing on specific road intersections. This paper fills this gap by auditing seven signalized intersections in three maj or cities in Ghana. A combination of road accident data compiled from 2010 to 2018, video observations during peak hours, and 1,489 questionnaires were employed. The results showed that the safety problems at the studied signalized intersections include conflicting mixed-flow traffic, in-lane hawking, unsignalized crosswalks, illicit parking of minibuses in intersection exit lanes, pedestrian and motorcyclist violations, road encroachment, and depleted road markings, among others. Several problems with the basic infrastructure, traffic violations, and proposed motorcycle taxi regulations were identified. Notably, the morning peak hours in Bolgatanga are 9-11a.m. There are proposed priority investments for each of the intersections. Our findings are beneficial to traffic engineers in Ghana, other sub-Saharan African countries, and their international development partners. Further studies on service design optimization and visible road markings are required.