Passengers commend MMT for testing drivers : To ensure safety

Passengers on a Metro Mass Transit (MMT) from Sunyani to Kumasi have spontaneously clapped and commended the team of officials who were conducting a breathalyzer test on drivers and conductors.

Immediately the MMT taskforce (in their usual orange jackets and holding the breathalyzers) stopped the bus and checked the driver, the passengers started murmuring, but when it was explained to them that it was part of their routine checks, they burst into spontaneous applause and commended the company for its safety concerns.

They insisted that such checks should be conducted on other commercial drivers because they were aware that MMT drivers were checked for alcohol before they sat behind the steering wheels.

A 57-year-old banker, Mr Francis Dua, told the Daily Graphic that they were aware that before the drivers set off “they check the engines and other important parts of the vehicle and undergo alcohol tests but the MMT should assist other transport organisations to also do same”.

Madam Regina Bonsu, a trader, said she had been shuttling between Sunyani and Kumasi for the past seven years and was aware of such safety measures, including similar checks at some specific rest stops. She commended the management for the initiative.

She also appealed to the government to provide the company with more buses so that they would provide affordable, safe and continuous services for the travelling public.

Safety initiative

Speaking to the Daily Graphic later, Mr Isaac Yeboah, the Administrative Manager, who also led the team, said the MMT had intensified its safety and training measures to ensure the safety of both passengers and staff, with the extension of its random alcohol tests to cover the entire country.

He explained that the usual early morning test of drivers and conductors, as well as mandatory stop checks and other safety measures, were all part of the company’s five-year strategic plan to make the safety of both passengers and staff a paramount objective.

Mr Yeboah took the Daily Graphic to the company’s Abrepo Junction terminal where some of the drivers were undergoing a training workshop on safe driving. 

He added that officials of the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service, the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) would also be around to update the skills of the drivers.

Mandatory rest stops

Mr Yeboah stated that the MMT had several mandatory rest stops along its long-distance routes where drivers were obliged to stop, check on the bus and rest before setting off again as part of measures to ensure that drivers did not sit behind the steering wheels for four hours.

“At all these stops dotted around the country, the driver must fill a form and sign a book indicating other activities and also as a proof that they rested, apart from other officials who would be around at the rest stop areas at Bamboi, Kintampo and Nkwanta,” he added.

He disclosed that the company had a duty roaster which ensured that its drivers took a rest for at least three weeks.