ENFROCING ROAD SAFETY REGULATIONS (DEC 19, 2009)

A NATIONAL Road Safety Policy aimed at co-ordinating road safety activities, as well as ensuring road safety interventions, has been introduced in the country.
Timely as the launch was, it could not have come at a much better time than now, especially, with a few days to Christmas, which incidentally is also a period with high incidence of road accidents.
The DAILY GRAPHIC has always stressed the need to enforce our laws to ensure sanity in the system.
Our worry stems from the fact that in many cases, the country has drafted very good laws and adopted sound policies to define our national character but implementation has always been slow or lacking.
It is a known fact that carnage on the country’s roads is about the worst in the world. The carnage is attributed to human error, which accounts for about 80 per cent of all road accidents.
But the problems of road safety is a multifaceted one. It can be addressed through public education, technical knowledge and administrative procedures.
The DAILY GRAPHIC thinks the policy that mandates drivers to acquire a minimum educational qualification before being granted driver’s licences should be enforced without any delay.
We also need to enforce the laws on roadworthiness of cars. It is amazing to see death traps being used as vehicles on our roads.
One wonders how owners of these vehicles obtained their roadworthiness certificates or how they renewed them.
The institutional capacity of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) needs to be strengthened for it to deliver timely services to the drivers.
It is only when the cumbersome nature of getting a licence is addressed immediately that drivers will not resort to dealing with “Goro” boys who issue fake documents.
The life of every Ghanaian is very important and we expect that precious lives will not be lost through the recklessness of our drivers.
The unnecessary killing of our countrymen and women through road accidents, should not become a feature during this year’s Christmas holidays and beyond.
The DAILY GRAPHIC calls on the authorities to implement the road safety policy to protect the lives of the motoring public.