NRSC Cautions Motorists

TO ENSURE that this year's Yuletide is accident-free for motorists, passengers and other road users, the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) has called on motorists to abide by road safety rules and regulations, asking passengers to check drivers' indiscipline on the roads.

The NRSC, in partnership with the Information Service, stationed itself at the Tema Motorway toll booth to educate both drivers and passengers on the need to observe road traffic regulations.

Speaking to DAILY GUIDE, the Retired Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Victor Tandoh, Chairman of the NRSC, said that it is vital for the NRSC, and the nation for that matter, to remind all road users of the need to be careful during occasions such as Christmas and Easter, observing that these were occasions when careless driving and disregard for road traffic regulations cause preventable deaths on the nation's highways.

He observed that most drivers do not understand the essence of using seat belts, which he emphasized, could save the lives of both drivers and passengers.

ACP Tandoh (rtd) called on passengers to look out for drivers who make phone calls while driving, noting that such practises distract the driver, thus causing road accidents.“It is the passengers' responsibility to ensure that the driver takes them to their destination safely”, he added.

Passengers who pressure drivers to speed up because they (passengers) are late for work, ACP Tandoh (rtd) said, added to the numerous causes of road accidents. He thus advised passengers to desist from making such potentially fatal requests.

About 50 lives were lost on the Tema motorway this year, he estimated, observing that the motorway, like any other major road in the country, was slippery thus drivers who ply on it must avoid speeding, wrongful overtaking and drunk driving.

He named the Accra-Nsawam and Tema-Aflao roads as the NRSC's next port of call saying, “We will station ourselves on these roads to educate motorists and passengers to be cautious.

Our road safety campaign will continue unabated until Ghana experiences a drastic nosedive in deadly road accidents”.

With effect from next year, 2010, ACP Tandoh (rtd) noted, the NRSC has initiated a programme to install speed limiters that would limit the speedometers of all commercial vehicles, thus cutting the speed such vehicles travel.

He added that the NRSC, in conjunction with the Driver and Vehicle Licence Authority (DVLA), had introduced a log book in which commercial drivers will have to record their movements from one station to the other, to check a driver's speed and distance travelled.   

ACP Tandoh (rtd) concluded that the Commission would install Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras on busy highways to capture drivers' speeding and negligence on the road, saying, “This new development would ease the work of the police, as the camera would produce every piece of information the police would need to nail a defiant and reckless driver who violates traffic regulations”.

While he advised disobedient drivers to develop the habit of buckling up, he commended those who relentlessly wear theirs and urged them to drive safely to ensure an accident-free holiday season.

From Razak Mardorgyz Abubakar & Inusa Musah, Tema