The importance of proper street lighting is underpinned by many factors, key among them being safety.
The first thing that comes to mind when we think about safety is the prevention of accidents. Poor visibility is a leading contributory factor to accidents, both because drivers cannot see where they are going and pedestrians have difficulty spotting oncoming traffic or roadside obstacles.
Another danger that is made worse by poor lighting or its absence is criminal activity. Crimes such as mugging and burglary, are more frequent in poorly lit areas. The presence of adequate lighting acts both as a deterrent to criminals and also an early warning system for potential victims.
The psychological effect of light is well known. People feel a heightened sense of anxiety when it is dark. A brightly lit area generally makes us feel safer.
Commercial establishments also benefit from good street lighting because areas with adequate lighting feel safer and more welcoming to customers.
In order to have safer, more comfortable, convenient and sufficient movement of vehicles and pedestrians at night time, street or highway lighting is needed along the road.
In spite of this basic fact about streetlights, driving in some of the major towns and cities in the country is more a nightmare.
For instance, driving on the Ayi Mensah-Peduase highway at night has become extremely dangerous for motorists and other road users, as many of the streetlights along the road are malfunctioning.
There are 120 streetlights from the beginning of the five-kilometre road at Ayi Mensah to the end of the dual carriageway at the Peduase Presidential Lodge in the Eastern Region. Unfortunately, only 35 were functional as of last week when the Daily Graphic news team visited the area.
To provide a bit of context, the Ayi Mensah-Peduase stretch is part of the National Route Four (N4) that begins at the Tetteh-Quarshie Interchange in Accra and runs through Adenta, Peduase, Aburi, Koforidua and Asokore to join the N6 — the Accra-Kumasi road — at Bunso in the Eastern Region.
Covering a distance of 110 kilometres (about 68 miles), the trunk road serves as an alternate route from Accra to Kumasi. Beyond the Peduase Presidential Lodge, the road leads to a number of major communities, markets, schools and tourist sites in the Eastern Region.
Interestingly, 35 functional lights are mostly found on the stretch of the road from the Presidential Lodge to a popular landmark at Peduase, the Hephzibah Christian Centre, and its surroundings, which are well lit at night, obviously to protect the national and security installation.
The rest of the dual carriageway to and from the Ayi Mensah tollbooth is completely dark at night, posing a serious danger to motorists and other road users due to poor visibility on the curvy stretch.
The Daily Graphic finds the development not only worrying but also very serious, in view of the importance of that stretch to the entire road architecture of the country. It is also important to note that our President hosts very important international visitors at the Peduase Lodge and, therefore, the security of those personalities cannot be taken for granted.
Like many other areas without streetlights, we have observed that the authorities are quick to mount the lights but do not care whether they function or not.
Occasionally, we see engineers working on the lights, but nothing happens when they leave because the lights never get lit.
It has become necessary for the authorities to take a serious view of the worrying development and see to it that the road is dotted with functional streetlights.
The Electricity Company of Ghana and metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies must be able to provide answers to issues concerning street lighting.
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