Take safety measures

Augustine Kessie, sole distributor of Tyre Protector WITH THE current spate of accidents on some of the country's major roads, a stakeholder in the road sector has reiterated the need for drivers to take safety measures to curb the menace.

Questions have been raised regarding the measures used in reducing road accidents on a daily basis, especially since the first quarter of this year has witnessed many accidents resulting in unimaginable death tolls.

On February 16, fifty four people perished in a fatal accident; according to reports, 38 people died in an accident at Kadia, in the Savelugu-Nanton District specifically on the Tamale-Bolgatanga road. There was another fatal accident on the same road on Sunday February 15, on the Kintampo-Kumasi road, which left over 20 passengers dead.

“Lives can be saved. Road accidents have a great effect on any country's economy as a lot of human resource is lost,” Augustine Kessie, Sole Distributor of Tyre Protectors, told Daily Guide at his office in Accra.

He pointed out that as the main stakeholders, drivers of vehicles, especially commercial ones, have a role to play in the reducing the carnage. But they have failed to apply the appropriate technology to ensure the safety of their cars.

He observed that drivers take their lives and that of their passengers for granted and thereby ignore simple safety measures like checking the vehicle thoroughly before hitting the road.

Though factors usually listed for accidents include bad roads, over speeding, old vehicles and a poor driving culture, Mr. Kessie noted that one of the major causes of the perennial road accident is front tyre rupture.  

He said many times vehicles with punctured tyres were left in the middle of the road; so other cars have to meander through and end up colliding with an on-coming vehicle.

He said his company has introduced a technology that could help drivers prevent some of these incidents.

He said the tyre protector is a sealant that could be put in any tyre to permanently protect it against punctures and air loss.

He lamented how the nation as a whole has failed to adopt safety and preventive measurers but rather resorts to the fire fighting approach. We are always waiting for a problem to get out of hand before we try to resolve it”.

Asked if the tyre protector sealant had any adverse effects, he said the environmentally friendly product has no harmful effect and was imported under license of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), Road Safety and the Building and Road Safety Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.

“It is non-hazardous, non-toxic and bio-degradable” he said sounding optimistic about the efficacy of the gel-like solution that can be installed into a tyre with the help of a valve.  

By Emelia Ennin Abbey