Transport owners urged to stop undue pressure on drivers
Transport owners have been urged to stop putting undue pressure on their drivers to meet their daily sales target in order to reduce the carnage on roads.
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The Offinso Municipal Chairman of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), Mr Joseph Agyemang Duah, was speaking at a day’s sensitisation programme the GPRTU organised for commercial drivers at Kokote in the Offinso Municipality in the Ashanti Region.
He observed that in most instances, commercial drivers had been in haste to meet their daily sales target resulting in road accidents.
He further observed that accident cases had been increasing during Christmas due to reckless driving and that as Christmas was fast approaching this year, he urged commercial drivers to abide by all road regulations to avert the menace.
“It is a known fact that if a surgeon commits a mistake in the course of surgery, the individual patient may die but if a driver commits a mistake while on the steering wheel, many passengers in the vehicle may lose their lives and some may sustain various degrees of injury and sometimes rendering them permanently incapacitated, ” he said.
He called on the police to strictly enforce road traffic regulations.
He used the opportunity to express gratitude to past chairmen of the Offinso Municipal branch of the GPRTU for the meritorious work they did in the area.
The Offinso Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Baffour Kese-Amankwaa, stressed the need for defensive driving, saying that it was time to nip in the bud road accidents caused by human error.
He called on commercial drivers to respect other road users, especially motor riders, cyclists and trolley pushers, among others.
He said the assembly had already begun reconstructing and rehabilitating bad roads and indicated that the assembly was quickly procuring vehicles for commercial purposes to provide employment for drivers who had driving licences but no vehicles to operate on “work and pay” basis.
For his part, the Offinso Municipal Police Commander, Superintendent Ibrahim Sulley, warned commercial drivers against overloading and speeding to reduce road accidents.
He also warned the drivers, especially taxi drivers who were operating locally without licences to do the right thing.
He commended commercial drivers in the area for recording only two accidents in the year.
Other speakers at the sensitisation programme included the Ashanti Regional Industrial Relations Officer (IRO) of the GPRTU, Rev. Ellis Owusu-Ansah, who also represented the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the GPRTU and Nana Basoa of the Offinso Motto Transport and Traffic Unit (MTTU).
The Kokotehene, Nana Adu Poku, who represented the Offinsomanhene, Nana Wiafe Akenten III, chaired the programme.
