The National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) as part of new moves to help prevent road accidents is to ensure that all commercial vehicles are fitted with speed limiters.
According to the NRSC, it intends to lead a conversation on the implementation of the Regulation on Speed limiters, which requires that all commercial vehicles must be fitted with speed limiters to help manage speeds as a major contributory factor to road traffic crashes.
At a press briefing in Accra on Sunday, the NRSC said it was also working to get to the stage where it may be able to sanction public transport service providers for lapses in their operational standards which is a culture that underlines the safety of the airline industry.
To the Executive Director of the NRSC, Mrs May Obiri Yeboah, the commission needs public support for the implementation of this and many other critical road safety interventions.
"In recent times, we [NRSC] have been at the receiving end of some resistance for the introduction of one road safety measure or the other," she said.
On Friday, March 22, an unfortunate incident of two road traffic crashes claimed more than 60 lives and injured many on the Techiman-Kintampo highway and the Accra-Cape Coast highway.
Road traffic crashes have seen an upsurge of road deaths and injuries from the beginning of 2019.
Available statistics from the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the police indicates that from January 2019 to end of February 2019, a total of 411 persons have been killed and 2048 injured through road traffic crashes in Ghana.
A committee made up of representatives from the Interior, Transport, Roads and Highways that looked into the problem of road crashes following President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's directive identified indiscipline as the main contributory factor to the increasing incidents of traffic crashes due to disrespect for road traffic laws and regulations related to travel speeds, overtaking, driving under influence of alcohol and drugs, long driving periods, disregard for traffic regulations by motor riders including non-use of crash helmets among others.
Last week's accidents
Touching on last week's accidents, the Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah reiterated government's commiserations to the victims and families affected by accidents which claimed over 60 lives.
Source: Graphic.com
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. |
Please if there can be check on these drivers .I suggest if the MTTU can monitor these drivers.If these drivers are giving check books which will be stamp with time by the police in the first check point in the locality of the moving vehicle .Then after four hours it can be stamp by police at the rest stop and final stamped at the destination check point. If only the police will not disturb the drivers.
The fixing of the speed limit machine in the commercial vehicles is not necessary, what is Ghana highways doing about recent speed bump everywhere on our roads
I believe road worthiness should be more than the condition of the vehicle. Road users could be different drives and condition of vehicles but one constant it the condition of the road. I, therefore, see the attention to the condition of our roads as a major need. Quite often, small damage in a road will be left to expand into a huge crack making it turn into a major risk zone. This is the one dangerous category, which is the lack of swift repairs. Another one is the lack of routine maintenance. The major one, however, is having a systematic plan to upgrade roads across the country, making them motorable through ou the year.
Fiifi, God richly bless you! if every Ghanaian would be patriotic like you I think our country could have moved mountains! I hope those who are in charge will take note of this!very good advise!
NRSC, we do not need a conversation, workshop, committee or any rhetorical measure. More than 2000 people die each year in Ghana to road accidents. Syria has not recorded that number of deaths in a year in all the years of her war! This is what you should be doing: 1. Make All vehicles go thru stringent road worthiness checks.I have never seen vehicles declined road worthy certificates. Check functioning of all safety equipment and inspect maintenance history! 2. Make commercial drivers go through additional training for competence on the road. If you are driving a commercial vehicle, you should go through extra training to get a commercial driver's driving license. 3. Use speed cameras, not police men! Deduct points from driving license ownership for traffic offenses. When points fall dangerously low, revoke the driving licenses. It is a privilege not a right to have a driving license.4 Convert yourselves at the NRSC into a Transportation Safety Authority! Road Safety is too narrow a scope. Our problems begin from the type of cars imported into the country, the type of spares on them, the type of roads they are driven on and finally the type of people behind the wheels. We need to mind the full spectrum of people and activities that lead to accidents. There you have it. I have done the work for you.