NRSA urges drivers to reduce road crashes in yuletide

The National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) has called on drivers and other relevant stakeholders to play their roles efficiently to reduce road carnages in the country during the Yuletide.

It identified the various stakeholders as the law enforcers, drivers and passengers who have a crucial role to play in ensuring safety on the roads.

The call was made at the launch of a road safety campaign ahead of the Christmas and New Year festivities at Bunso in the Abuakwa South Municipality in the Eastern Region.

Christened "Operation Stay Alive Comply", the campaign urged drivers and other road users to be disciplined on the road and also obey road traffic regulations to ensure that no lives were lost through accidents.

It is in collaboration with stakeholders from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service, the Ghana Road Transport Coordinating Council (GRTCC), the Ghana Private Road Transport Union and Street Sense Bloomberg Vital Strategist, and is intended to sensitise drivers and other road users to the need to follow correctly the speed limits on their cars to save lives.

The national launch brought together representatives from some transport operators in the region, such as the Co-operative and Ghana Private Road Transport Association (GNCTA), among others.

Speeding

Speaking at the launch at Bunso last Monday, the Director of Planning and Programming of the NRSA, Martin Owusu Afram, who read the speech on behalf of the acting Director-General, David Osafo Adonteng, attributed speeding, wrongful overtaking, overloading, drinking or tired driving, non-wearing of seat belt and crash helmet, among others, as the major causes of road accidents in the country.

Speed management, he said, was one of the biggest challenges facing road users across the world, and therefore, called for concerted efforts among stakeholders to urgently address the issue.

Mr Afram indicated that speeding had directly influenced the risk of crashes and that the severity of injuries sustained and the deaths caused as a result were worrying.

He advised drivers to minimise their speed, desist from competing with speeding traffic on the road and respect road traffic regulations for the safety of the people.

The Director of Regulations in charge of Inspection and Compliance of the NRSA, Kwame Koduah Atuahene, said the initiative was a national campaign to be replicated in the remaining 15 regions of the country.

He urged the respective transport operators to advise their drivers to comply with the directive of speed limits as they commuted from one area to the other, especially during the Christmas and New Year periods.

The Director in charge of Education, Training and Research of the MTTD, Chief Superintendent Alexander Kwaku Obeng, indicated that in October this year,  2,038 deaths through road crashes were recorded at the Police MTTDs across the country .

That, he stated, had been a worrying situation which needed to be critically looked at immediately and addressed.

Writer's email haruna.wunpini@graphic.com.gh