Refereed Journals

Perfecting land title refers to the process of securing tenure on land. It refers to the assurance that the land one holds for an agreed period of time and purpose is certain. It requires a level of legitimacy. It is on record that agriculture, forestry and mining sectors constitute about 70% of Ghana’s gross domestic product. However, the lack of several large-scale plantations in Ghana can be partly attributed to the land tenure system. Land rights in rural communities are not secured in that the lands are not themselves well defined and rights are not documented. The study used modern survey methods to clearly map out farms in a systematic manner for farmers under a cooperative for rubber plantation development. The rights of tenant farmers and landholders are clearly and legally documented and registered into the formal land administration system. The spatial and attribute data are incorporated into a Geographic Information System (GIS) that serves as tool for data management on the farmers. The pilot study was successful in improving not only tenure security and data access, but also access to funding by participating farmers.

Objective: This article assesses pedestrian behavior and safety at zebra crossings in the Cape Coast Metropolis.

Method: A mix of a naturalistic exploratory and descriptive study was conducted using both primary and secondary data. The primary data included an observational study of over 6,000 pedestrians using zebra crossings in the metropolis. The secondary data were obtained from the national road traffic crashes (RTCs) database at the Building and Road Research Institute covering information on pedestrian crashes between 2007 and 2016 in the metropolis. Analyses were conducted using frequencies and percentages with Pearson’s chi-square correlation used to establish the relationship between independent and dependent variables.

Results: The findings showed that the majority of the 328 pedestrian crashes between 2007 and 2016 resulted in either fatalities or serious injuries and occurred at locations away from a junction. Most of the pedestrians observed used the zebra crossing were alone and engaged in talking or using mobile phone. Age group, pedestrian status, and the location of the zebra crossings influenced pedestrians’ risky behaviors.

Conclusion: The majority of the pedestrian crashes in the metropolis resulted in injuries resulting in hospitalization or fatalities and occurred at a midblock. Pedestrians largely exhibited risky behaviors predisposing the occurrence of RTCs at zebra crossings despite the fact that they are a pedestrian right-of-way. There is therefore the need for the National Road Safety Commission to carry out campaigns to educate pedestrians on the safer use of zebra crossings.

Geotechnical and mineralogical properties of black cotton soils obtained from the Accra plains of Ghana were evaluated with the aim of using it as potential component of drilling mud. Samples were collected from Dowhenya, Tsopoli and Prampram, air dried, crushed and subjected to geotechnical, chemical, mineralogical, physico-chemical properties and free swell index laboratory tests. The index properties show that, the black cotton soils have over 70% clay content with very high plasticity. However, the commercial bentonite had over 90% clay with an extremely high plasticity. Chemically and mineralogically, the black cotton soils are similar to the commercial bentonite except that, it contains a lot more of the oxides that have no influence on the desirable properties of the soil as compared to the commercial bentonite. It was also determined from the chemical, mineralogical and physico-chemical properties that, the black cotton soils contain Ca-montmorillonite while the commercial bentonite contained Na-montmorillonite as the dominant clay minerals. However, an addition of 10% Na2CO3 improved the free swell index of the black cotton soils and hence its properties are expected to compare much closely with those of commercial bentonite.

This study established the blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) of bar patrons relative to the legal (BAC) limit for Ghana and the international guideline on alcohol consumption. A cross-sectional study design and a convenience sampling technique were used to collect data at selected bars in 2 cities, namely; Bolgatanga and Wa, in northern Ghana. A breathalyzer was used to measure the breath alcohol concentrations of participants exiting bars and face-to-face questionnaires were administered to participants to capture their accident histories, alcohol consumption patterns, and modes of transport they usually use to travel to their next destination after alcohol consumption. The mean BAC of bar patrons was 0.143 ± 0.096% (95% confidence interval, 0.127 to 0.160%). The mean BAC of males (0.156%) was significantly higher than the mean BAC of females (0.103%; p = 0.004). Sixty-two percent of participants were exiting the bars with BACs of more than the legal BAC limit and 44% of this proportion was at 0.150% or more. Fifty-one percent of participants indicated that they usually consume a mixture of alcoholic beverages consisting of homemade and factory-made drinks. Fifty-seven percent of participants who usually consume a mixture of drinks had BACs of 0.150% or above. Only 22% of females and 6% of males consume alcohol within their respective recommended low risk of 1 to 2 units and 1 to 4 units, respectively. A vast majority of participants (96%) reported that they usually engage in risky behaviors such as riding, walking, or driving to their next destination after consuming alcohol. Motorists were more likely to exit the bars with very high BACs. It is recommended that police should enforce the BAC law. In addition, in order to prevent harmful use of alcohol, the introduction of an alcohol consumption guideline in Ghana is recommended. Because alcohol consumption is increasing currently with motorization, it is also necessary to educate alcohol users about the number of drinks required to stay below the legal limit if they are motorists as well as other road users or to prevent long-term illnesses associated with excessive alcohol use.

Each year, pedestrian injuries constitute over 40% of all road casualty deaths and up to 60% of all urban road casualty deaths in Ghana. This is as a result of the overwhelming dependence on walking as a mode of transport in an environment where there are high vehicular speeds and inadequate pedestrian facilities. The objectives of this research were to establish the (1) impact of traffic calming measures on vehicle speeds and (2) association between traffic calming measures and pedestrian injury severity in built-up areas in Ghana. Vehicle speeds were unobtrusively measured in 38 selected settlements, including 19 with traffic calming schemes and 19 without. The study design used in this research was a matched case–control. A regression analysis compared case and control casualties using a conditional logistic regression. Generally, the mean vehicle speeds and the proportion of vehicles exceeding the 50 km/h speed limit were significantly lower in settlements that have traffic calming measures compared to towns without any traffic calming measures. Additionally, the proportion of motorists who exceeded the speed limit was 30% or less in settlements that have traffic calming devices and the proportion who exceeded the speed limit was 60% or more in towns without any traffic calming measures. The odds of pedestrian fatality was significantly higher in settlements that have no traffic calming devices compared to those that have (odds ratio [OR] = 1.98; 95% confidence interval, 1.09–4.43). The protective effects of a traffic calming scheme that has a speed table was notably higher than those where there were no speed tables. It was clearly evident that traffic calming devices reduce vehicular speeds and, thus, the incidence and severity of pedestrian injuries in built-up areas in Ghana. However, the fact that they are deployed on arterial roads is increasingly becoming a road safety concern. Given the emerging safety challenges associated with speed calming measures, we recommend that their use be restricted to residential streets but not on arterial roads. Long-term solutions for improving pedestrian safety proposed herein include bypassing settlements along the highways to reduce pedestrians’ exposure to traffic collisions and adopting a modern way of enforcement such as evidence-based laser monitoring in conjunction with a punishment regime that utilizes the demerit points system.