POLITICAL LEADERS URGED TO SUPPORT SAFETY CAMPAIGNS (PAGE 14, MAY 17, 2010)

THE Executive Director of the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), Mr Noble J. Appiah, has appealed to political leaders to support the commission in its nation-wide campaign.
He said the NRSC was determined to educate all road users, especially drivers and pedestrians, to strictly observe all road traffic rules and regulations to stem the tide of rampant road accidents that claimed several lives in the country.
He said it was doing its best in educating road users on the need to be extra careful while on the road but there was the urgent need for politicians to play their part in that all-important national exercise.
‘‘We need the commitment and passion of our political leaders to use their authority in their various jurisdictions to impress upon their people to avoid the use of mobile phones while driving, advise them on the benefits of wearing seat belts and crash helmets when driving their vehicles and riding on motorbikes for their own safety,” he appealed.
Mr Appiah, who made the appeal when he paid a courtesy call on the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr Kwadwo Nyamekye–Marfo, in his office in Sunyani, observed that about 42 per cent of pedestrians died in road accidents in the country.
He emphasised that his outfit had put in place several interventions to ensure that there was safety on the roads but pointed out that it was incumbent on everyone, especially officials of the Ghana Highway Authority, the Department of Urban Roads and all other concerned institutions and organisations, to come on board in the sensitisation drive by the commission to save the vulnerable from losing their precious lives through road accidents.
He disclosed that the government had given approval for the towing of any vehicle that broke down on the road if the owner failed to move his or her vehicle away within some hours of the breakdown, saying that the offending driver would be made to bear the cost of that service.
According to Mr Appiah, under the new arrangement, more private individuals were to be provided with licences to effect the towing of all break-down vehicles on the roads and expressed the hope that that drastic measure would bring sanity on the roads.
Mr Nyamekye-Marfo noted that recklessness, unnecessary overtaking in sharp curves, speeding and parking of faulty vehicles right in the middle of the roads were the main causes of road accidents, adding that the strict application of the law would help prevent some of those accidents.
According to the regional minister, most of the drivers were unable to read, understand and observe road signs and, therefore, called for an intensification of education by the NRSC and all those concerned.
He also observed that the non-maintenance of vehicles accounted for many of the accidents and impressed upon the various transport unions to advise their members to regularly service their vehicles in their own interest, as well as in the interest of their passengers.
Mr Nyamekye-Marfo urged the NRSC to include the media, especially,
the FM stations, in its sensitisation of the public, arguing that many people listened to programmes in the local languages and would, therefore, understand whatever message they hear on radio with regard to the prevention of road accidents.
He gave the assurance that the Brong Ahafo Regional Co-ordinating Council would provide the necessary support for whatever programmes were drawn by the Regional Road Safety Committee towards the prevention of road accidents in the region.