The Minister of Transport, Joseph Bukari Nikpe, has urged commercial motorcycle riders to justify the government's decision to legalise their activities by strictly adhering to road safety regulations.
He stressed that the legalisation of Okada was not a licence for irresponsible rider behaviour but a means of making decent livelihoods while ensuring safety on the road.
"The government has done its part by ensuring that Okada has been legalised so that you can operate legally; you have a duty to be careful on the road so that we do not regret going to Parliament to pass the law," he stressed.
Mr Nikpe made the call at the launch of the Safe Journey campaign, a road safety education by the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) in Accra last Tuesday.
"Let us respect traffic regulations, let us respect other road users, and operate in an orderly manner knowing that your lives depend on how careful you are on the road," he stressed, after launching the campaign.
The National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) has launched the Safe Journey campaign, an initiative that seeks to promote responsible road user behaviour through education and awareness creation.
The initiative, a partnership between the NRSA and Somoco Ghana Limited, dealers in Bajaj motorcycles and auto products, is also meant to enforce compliance with road traffic regulations, with the ultimate target to reduce road traffic crashes, injuries and fatalities.
The campaign has a particular focus on educating motorcycle and tricycle riders, who remain among the most vulnerable road-user groups in the country.
Prospects
Mr Nikpe said Okada was an easy means of transport and job creation, the reason why the government decided to regularise its operation to open it up for the youth.
However, he said there were a lot of concerns by various groups about the government's decision to regularise the operation of Okada because of the many road crashes associated with it.
"We do not want to see more of the crashes people are talking about. Let us prove to Ghanaians that we can ride carefully; let us prove that we can also obey road traffic regulations to keep the roads safe and make a livelihood out of Okada," he added.
Responsible riding
The Director-General of the NRSA, Abraham Amaliba, said the launch of the Safe Journey campaign was an indication that the authority would leave no stone unturned to reduce road crashes, injuries and deaths.
He urged transport operators, various associations of Okada riders and other road users to play their part in ensuring safety on the road.
In particular, he stressed that riders of motorcycles and tricycles should be extra careful when they hit the road for business.
"Motorcycles have been manufactured to ease mobility, not to kill us; so, we need to ensure that we avoid speeding, reckless overtaking, ignoring traffic signals, and riding under the influence of alcohol, because it puts our lives and other road users at risk of crashes, " he stressed.
For his part, the Managing Director of Somoco Ghana Limited, Nii Ayi Hyde, said his organisation was prepared to work with the NRSA to sanitise the country's roads.
He said it was in that regard that the organisation rolled out a training programme for okada riders to update their knowledge on road safety.
