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Madam Helen Adjoa Ntoso, Volta Regional Minister on Tuesday underscored the need for passengers to know and to help enforce recommended speed limits of vehicles they travel on to enable them to monitor drivers effectively. She said passengers and Transport Unions should also ensure that passenger vehicles covered distances within recommended time limits. Madam Ntoso said this at the regional launch of �Passenger Empowerment Campaign� being carried out by the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) in Ho. The event, aimed at empowering bus occupants and passengers to demand safety whilst on board commercial vehicles, was on the theme, �Passengers, Speak Up! Don�t Get Killed on the Road.� Madam Ntoso suggested that Transport Unions appointed senior officers who would go on vehicles to announce the names of drivers expected to travel, speed limit, the expected number of hours of travel and contact telephone numbers for channeling complaints, before the journey started. She said those monitoring measures would ensure that drivers behaved professionally on the road. Drivers would also value the rights of passengers and act professionally on the road, the Regional Minister added. Madam Ntoso noted with regret that bus occupant deaths constituted about 23 per cent of road fatalities annually in the country. �In the past three years from 2010, bus/passenger deaths keep rising, 325 in 2010, 427 in 2011 and 432 in 2012,� she stated. Madam Ntoso said the lack of standards in the operation and management of public transport services by individuals and organizations was regrettable. She expressed frustration about the increasing number of unqualified and unprofessional drivers on the roads, and pledged the readiness of the Volta Regional Coordinating Council to help enforce road safety regulations. Mr Sebastian Akyeampong, Volta Regional Manager of the Road Safety Commission charged passengers to insist on their right to safe travel, and report undisciplined drivers to the Commission or the police. He asked passengers to look out for signs of fatigue such as frequent yawning and rubbing of eyes and to demand that those drivers took a rest before continuing the journey. Mr Akyeampong asked passengers not to overlook actions like wrongful overtaking and to ensure that drivers did not use mobile phones while driving. Mr Godwin Nyamuame, Volta Regional Chairman, GHANAPASS, a non-governmental organization championing the rights of passengers, said it was important for drivers to respect passengers as their clients. He asked passengers to exercise their rights and demand compensations when involved in road accidents. In 2013, Ghana lost about 2,096 lives to road crashes as against 2,240 in 2012, with 42 per cent of the victims being pedestrians. About 23 per cent of those pedestrians killed were children below age 16; and 70 per cent of persons killed annually belonged to the active group of 18-55 years, 70 per cent of them being males. Averagely, six persons are killed daily in road traffic crashes in the country with overspeeding being a major cause of road crashes, accounting for 60 per cent of reported cases, according to the NRSC.