Safe Driving and Road Safety: Ghana-Specific Rules
Safe driving questions test whether you can apply rules to real road situations, not just recite them. Ghana-specific points carry marks: traffic keeps to the right, default speed limits are set in km/h, and the test expects you to protect pedestrians, passengers and other road users.
Position, speed and overtaking
- Ghana drives on the right. Keep right except when overtaking or turning; overtake on the left. If the vehicle ahead is signalling a right turn, you may pass on its right only when it is safe.
- Default limits, unless a sign says otherwise: 50 km/h in built-up areas, 80 km/h outside built-up areas, and 100 km/h on expressways or motorways. Slow below the limit in rain, darkness, fog, or near schools and markets.
- Use the two-second gap in good, dry conditions. Double it to four seconds in rain or when following a large vehicle that blocks your view.
- At an uncontrolled junction, give way to traffic approaching from your right unless signs, signals or markings give another priority.
Roundabouts and junctions
- In right-hand traffic, roundabout traffic circulates anticlockwise. Give way to traffic already on the roundabout coming from your left, then join when clear.
- Do not enter a junction unless you can clear it; keep pedestrian crossings and side roads unobstructed.
- At a zebra crossing, give way to pedestrians on the crossing and approaching from your side.
Protection and fitness
- Seat belts are required for occupants; children need an appropriate restraint. Motorcyclists must wear approved helmets.
- Do not use a hand-held phone while driving. Avoid alcohol altogether; even below any legal limit, alcohol slows reaction and judgment.
- Fatigue is impairment: plan breaks on long trips and share driving where possible.
Worked example
You are following a lorry at 80 km/h on a wet road. In dry conditions a two-second gap would be about 44 m, since 80 km/h is about 22 m/s. In rain you double it to four seconds, about 88 m. Reasoning: wet roads lengthen stopping distance and the lorry blocks your view of hazards ahead, so the gap must cover both reaction and braking.
Traps that cost marks
- Overtaking on the right in normal running because Ghana is a former British colony.
- Giving way to the right at a roundabout; in right-hand traffic you yield to traffic from your left.
- Treating the speed limit as a safe speed in rain or at night.
- Assuming seat belts are only for the front seats.
- Using a phone at traffic lights because the car is stopped.