Accra Mayor Urges Discipline On Our Roads

Mr Mohammed Adjei Sowah, the Accra Metropolitan Chief Executive has advised all road users to be responsible and obey road traffic regulations to prevent accidents and injuries in the city.

He said road safety was a shared responsibility and everyone has a part to play to ensure zero fatalities and injuries.

Mr Sowah made the remark at an event held at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital to mark this year's World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims (WDR) under the theme: 'Roads Have Stories.'

The Day, initiated by road victims in 1993 and adopted by the UN on October 26, 2005, is commemorated on the third Sunday of November each year to remember the many millions killed and injured in road crashes.

Mr Sowah said: 'Drivers must not drink and drive, they must fasten their seat-belts and reduce their speed. The motor rider and his passenger must always wear their helmets, pedestrians too should use walkways and cross at pedestrian crossing and also wait for the signals before crossing the road.'

He said road traffic crashes were "highly preventable," adding that, available statistics do not paint a pretty picture of road safety in the city of Accra.

The Chief Executive charged personnel of the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service to intensify and enforce road traffic regulations to ensure the general safety of pedestrians and other road users in the City of Accra.

Mr Sowah pointed out that the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has instituted measures to help reduce road crashes and fatalities in the city, and that, with the help of the Bloomberg Philanthropies for Global Road Safety (BIGRS), the city had launched a Road Safety Strategy, a road safety report and currently implementing a pedestrian safety action plan.

He mentioned the ongoing road safety enhancement works at the Lapaz Intersection as well as the formation of a task force to intensify enforcement on helmet use, seatbelt and child restraints, drink driving and speeding, among others.

He called for more education to help change behaviours in order to reduce the carnage on the roads.

Mr Sowah later donated assorted items, which included packs of Milo, Powdered Milk, bottled water, toilet rolls, detergents, sugar, boxes of Lipton tea bags and biscuits to the road crash victims on admission at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital popularly known as the Ridge Hospital.

Madam Irene Messiba, the Director of Policy Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation at the Ministry of Transport, in a remark disclosed that available statistics on road traffic crashes and casualties as at 30th October this year shows that, 11,159 crashes have so far been recorded involving 18,063 vehicles and 3,156 motorcycles, resulting in 1,921deaths and 11,130 injures.

Madam May Obiri Yeboah, the Executive Director of the National Road Safety Commission also commended the AMA-BIGRS for their interventions to reduce road fatalities and injuries in the city and urged other assemblies to emulate such initiatives.