W/R; GJA Partners Road Safety Commission To Campaign Against Carnage Ahead Of Christmas.

The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) in partnership with Road Safety Commission (Western Region) , Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) , and the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of Ghana Police Service (GPS) has embarked on road safety campaign in the Western Region ahead of the yuletide.

The primary focus of the campaign is to educate drivers and transport operators to observe safety regulations and prevent accidents.

The exercise, which is the first phase of the broader campaign, commenced on Tuesday and would continue in communities considered accident prone in the region until end of January.

The second phase, which is the medium term program targeting institutions, would however commenced in March next year according to the GJA.

Addressing members of the Haulage Drivers Union of the GPRTU in Takoradi during the beginning of the campaign, the Western Regional Chairman of the GJA, Moses Dotse Aklorbortu said the campaign against carnage on our roads must be identified as a shared responsibility.

He said the average Ghanaian would feel safe in the hands of drivers if they continue to observe basic safety rules governing the transport industry.

"We must all observe safety regulations and prevent the needles accidents on our roads. The campaign against carnage remains a shared responsibility. All hands must be on deck. Already we have lost many lives this year and therefore we must prevent the occurrence of accidents to save precious lives"

In an address, the Acting Western Regional Head of the Road Safety Commission Nana Akua Ansaah Cobbina described the existing partnership between the stakeholders in the fight against carnage on our roads as laudable.

She appealed to commercial drivers to maintain sanity on our roads, using their families as sureties to prevent other families from perishing and been wiped out by needless accidents.

She described the current statistics of accidents and road traffic offences in the region as alarming and unacceptable.

"We can't continue to tolerate avoidable mistakes costing the nation precious human lives. We must either deal decisively with negative attitude towards this unfortunate development or continue to suffer together" she cautioned.

The Western Regional Commander of MTTU, Chief Supritendent Appiah who graced the occasion catalogued a number of avoidable mistakes being committed by drivers and road users currently costing rampant accidents in the region.

These, he said include, drank driving, overspeeding, overloading, improper packing, fatigue, poor vision by night drivers, unwholesome cars engaged in commercial activities among others.

Sharing their concerns, challenges, and troubles the drivers also outlined a number of compelling issues they said continues to worry them and their activities.

These include unnecessary extortions by managers of the transport sector such as police officers, DVLA officials,and city guards.

Others they noted, include, insecurity along high ways due to breeding armed robbers, dark spots in urban communities requiring streetlights etc.

The arbitrary arrest by police officers at check points, undue delay in processing of documentation at DVLA, unnecessary pothloes and poor road network among others , they complained, also affect productivity and general operations.