The Ghana Highway Code as a Teaching and Learning Material

Abstract

The Ghana Highway Code is the official state-recognised traffic teaching and learning ma­terial widely used in traffic schools and by motorists in Ghana. Ghana changed its traffic from left-hand to right-hand drive in 1974; the Code was subsequently published to, besides other reasons, guide road users to be reconditioned to a fresh standard of behaviour. However, 46 years after its publication, the content of the Code has been outgrown by new developments in the road environment and traffic systems, rendering the Code ineffective. Content analysis was used to ascertain the validity and reliability of the Code. Out of 95 mo­torists interviewed, 91.5% indicated they use or had ever used the Code, while 3.2% had not used it before and 5.3% did not know about it at all. Hundred percent of driving schools used the Code as teaching and learning material. It was concluded that the Code was an obsolete teaching and learning material. The implication was that, the wide user population of the Code had an adverse impact on learners. It was recommended that the Code be revised and republished as new edition.