RECENT developments on our roads have become a cause for concern, especially among the motoring and travelling public. Though it appears that the spate of accidents has reduced, the level of fatalities and injuries is on the ascendancy.
The statistics from January to September this year indicate that 9,997 accidents were recorded nation-wide, out of which 1,333 deaths were recorded, while 9,628 people were seriously injured.
Speaking at the National Police Command Conference in Accra yesterday, the Minister of the Interior, Mr Martin Amidu, hit the nail right on the head when he said the country was increasingly gaining notoriety for the upsurge in the figures of road accidents, pointing out that “the earlier we push harder in finding a lasting solution to the problem, the better it will be for all of us”.
The DAILY GRAPHIC is happy that stakeholders at the National Police Command Conference decided to dedicate part of their time to deliberate on the menace of road accidents and how to control or eliminate them.
We cannot agree more with the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Paul Tawiah Quaye, that the provision of requisite resources and equipment, the allocation of realistic budget for road safety activities and improvement in road safety service delivery mechanisms must be given national priority.
It is no secret that the police and the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) are ill-equipped to deal with the challenges that hamper safety on our roads. Although these institutions are hampered in the performance of their duties, some road accidents occur because officials of these institutions fail to act or encourage drivers to continue to infringe on road traffic regulations.
It is also no secret that personnel of these institutions extort money from the motoring public, instead of enforcing the regulations and making sure that those who breach the regulations are punished to serve as a deterrent to others.
However, since it is on record that many of the accidents on our roads are due to human error, it is imperative that the authorities target their campaign towards behavioural change. For instance, public education on a regular basis should help to discourage drivers from unnecessary speeding, unnecessary overtaking and parking at unauthorised places.
Some fatal accidents occur on our roads because certain drivers decide to leave their faulty vehicles on the roads without the necessary signs to warn other motorists of the danger ahead of them.
Other drivers too are fond of driving under the influence of alcohol, thereby putting their own lives and those of their passengers at risk. The crusade to rid the road of carnage must be a collective one because some passengers also contribute to accidents by encouraging drivers to over speed in order to get to their destinations early, forgetting the popular axiom, “IT IS BETTER TO BE LATE THAN BECOME THE LATE MR/MADAM X”.
We recall that when road accidents became common occurrences last year, the authorities put in place highway patrol teams to instil order on the roads, but it appears that intervention has not made any meaningful impact.
The DAILY GRAPHIC, therefore, calls on the police, the NRSC, the Ministry of Road and Highways to go back to the drawing board to devise means of halting the carnage on our roads. But this cannot be achieved without the active support of all road transport operators, especially the Ghana Road Transport Union (GPRTU), the Progressive Transport Owners Association (PROTOA), the Co-operative Transport Society and other transport organisations.
What we must all realise is that the carnage on our roads affects productivity and is also a huge drain on the national economy and we will be better off if we pool our resources to fight it.
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