MTTU moves to help reduce road accidents

The Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service has begun the deployment of more highway patrol men to help enforce road regulations as part of efforts to reduce the spate of road accidents in the country.

The exercise, which will be stepped up during the Easter festivities, will cover the highways linking Accra to Takoradi, Accra to Nkawkaw, Accra to Akosombo, Accra to Ho and Accra to Aflao. It will later be replicated in the other regions, according to the MTTU.

The Commander of the unit, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Daniel Avorga, who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic on Friday, March 13, noted, “We are determined to break this cycle of road accidents which are sending people to their graves before their time.”

He said under the exercise, motorized police personnel in groups of between four and six would be dispatched on the highways.

He said they would not only check the activities of drivers and their vehicles but also talk to and educate the drivers who plied those routes.

Mr. Avorga, therefore, appealed to drivers to co-operate with the police during the exercise, since the focus of the latter would not be on arresting the drivers but ensuring sanity on the roads.

He said on March 19, 2009 the police would hold a meeting with transport organizations and other stakeholders in the transport sector to discuss ways of finding solutions to the recent spate of road accidents.

“We are determined to take proactive steps to stop the harrowing spate of accidents,” he said, adding that the police would ensure that there was safety on the roads.

Mr. Avorga called for the support of members of the public in the campaign against road accidents.

Since the beginning of the year, the country has witnessed an increasing spate of road traffic accidents, with accidents being recorded almost every week.

Those accidents have not only destroyed property but also claimed the lives of people.

Only last Wednesday, three persons died on the spot, while many others sustained injuries when an articulated truck loaded with lumber skidded off the road and hit a tree, after running into the rear of an Accra-bound commercial bus at Pokuase, near Accra. A fourth person died later in the hospital.