Ministry requested to help prevent road accidents

Nkoranza (B/A), April 2, GNA - The Ministry of Roads and Transport has been urged to liaise with various transport bodies in the country to initiate effective strategies to help prevent road accidents.

Miss Joyce Nyamadie, Nkoranza District Director of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), made the call while contributing to a discussion on how to prevent lorry accidents, at Nkoranza on Monday. She was reacting to concerns raised by some discussants that road accidents that had resulted in lost of human lives and property were on the ascendancy.

Miss Nyamadie asked the Vehicle and Licensing Division (VELD) to critically examine drivers before issuing them with driving licenses. He explained that a mistake in giving such important documents to unqualified drivers could lead to more road accidents and injuries or death to both passengers and pedestrians. Miss Nyamadie also advised that vehicles should be properly inspected before confirming their road worthiness in order to ride the country of faulty vehicles.

Miss Nyamadie urged the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) and the Progressive Transport Owners Association (PROTOA) to regularly organise training for their members so that they could be familiar with road signs and traffic regulations to facilitate their work. She noted: "It is not surprising that a number of our drivers are ignorant and drive without adhering to road signs and traffic regulations. Such drivers need more training to make them efficient".

Miss Nyamadie advised drivers to prepare sufficiently before undertaking journeys and expressed dissatisfaction that some of them worked without sufficient petrol or fuel, adequate water in lorry radiators and spare tyres, resulting in breakdown of vehicles, accidents and discomfort to passengers. She also appealed to drivers to avoid wrong parking, inappropriate over-taking, over-speeding, over-loading and drunk driving. Miss Nyamadie urged transport owners to maintain their vehicles frequently to make them road-worthy always. Miss Nyamadie reminded drivers that the most important assert of every country are its citizens and caution should therefore be taken to preserve human lives.