Mr Ebo Hammond Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

‘Review, develop effective strategies on road safety campaigns’

Charles Andoh Mar - 28 - 2019 , 10:06

The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) Ghana has advised the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) to review and develop effective strategies and policies on road safety campaigns.

That, the institute said, would go a long way to reduce the carnage on roads.

Last year, the government gave approval for the release of GH¢6.5 million from the Road Fund to promote road safety campaigns in the country.

Event

Responding to recent road accidents in the country in recent times at a press conference in Accra, the President of CILT Ghana, Mr Ebo Hammond, said the NRSC had failed to develop the necessary strategies to address road safety challenges.

“Analysis of fatalities recorded over the last five years (2014-2018) reveal that despite all the notable efforts by the government and its agencies, it is sad to realise that deaths though road crashes increased by 30 per cent.

This means policy makers must review the strategies to ensure effectiveness.

“If you fail to put the right strategies in place, no matter the amount of money released for campaigns, you will not get the needed results,” he said.

Statistics

According to Mr Hammond, the Kintampo-Tamale road recorded the highest fatalities per crash as evidenced in the February 18, 2016 incident that claimed 70 lives and the March 22, 2019 crash where about 60 people lost their lives.

Statistics from the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service indicate that between 2014 and 2018, a total of 14,400 lives were lost, while 82,987 people were injured as a result of road crashes in various locations in the country.

He said as a country, the government needed to take drastic actions to stem the tide to prevent more lives from being lost to the increasing road accidents.

Causes

An executive member of CILT Ghana, Dr Godfred Akyea-Darkwah, blamed the crashes on carelessness and recklessness on the part of drivers.

According to him, the major causes of road crashes included indiscipline and the lack of respect of road signs by drivers.

“Education is important, but as drivers, if we fail to be disciplined on the road, we cannot blame anybody,” he said.

For his part, the Director of Transport at the Ministry of Energy, Alhaj Saaka Dumba, challenged the media to do follow-ups on stories, especially those that involved the transport sector, to their logical conclusions.

A former President of CILT Ghana, Rev. G. D. Mensah, also called for a change in the act that established the Metro Mass Transit (MMT) to ensure that its buses met specifications.