MMTL, alcohol testing for drivers must be regular
Road crashes and accidents hamper development because they take a toll on the human resource of a country, which is paramount in every facet of development.
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It is in view of that that every year, much time and resources are spent by the government through the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) and the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) on the education of drivers and pedestrians on road safety.
Other stakeholders such as the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (GTUC); the Progressive Transport Owners Association (PROTOA) and other transport associations also consistently educate their drivers on the importance of regular maintenance of their vehicles and ensuring safe driving and pedestrian safety, among other safety measures.
In line with ensuring that our roads are safe, the Metro Mass Transport Limited (MMTL) has also embarked on a two-day alcohol testing exercise for its drivers and conductors plying Accra to some major destinations in the country.
Although the exercise, which is aimed at reducing road accidents involving the MMTL, is very laudable, we believe that just two days of testing the bus drivers and their conductors for alcohol is inadequate in curbing the practice, if it exists.
Many people have met their untimely death as a result of road accidents involving public transport; not because of bad roads but as a result of the poor judgement by drivers who were drunk.
Drink-driving is one of the major causes of accidents on our roads, but in spite of the consistent education of drivers to make them refrain from drinking when they are behind the steering wheel, some of them continue to take in alcohol before or during a journey.
The MTTD has introduced surprise alcohol checks on some routes through the use of breathalysers to stem drink-driving and it is amazing that every time the police mounts posts along some routes, they arrest drivers with unacceptable levels of alcohol in their system.
The MMTL is a public transport service that links Accra with all the regions of the country and communities seen as remote by other transport operators.
It, therefore, carries a sizeable number of passengers across the country, which is the reason their safety must not be compromised in any way.
The Daily Graphic urges the management of MMTL to conduct the alcohol testing exercise throughout the year instead of making it a nine-days’ wonder and a public relations gimmick as they have indicated with their two-day period.
We know that that will come with a cost but no amount of money can replace human lives. Once lives are lost, they cannot be replaced.
We are not asking the MMTL to do the alcohol testing every day of the week but they can conduct random tests on all their routes every month until they have reason to believe that no driver or conductor of the company engages in drink-driving.
Road safety is said to be a shared responsibility so while the MMTL leadership does its part by testing their drivers and conductors before and after their journeys, we urge the passengers who board the buses to also report any driver or conductor they suspect to have taken in alcohol while working, to ensure their own safety.
Meanwhile, we suggest that any driver or conductor found to have engaged in drink or dangerous driving should not be spared so that it serves as a deterrent to others.
