Motorists in the Eastern Regional capital, Koforidua, have called on the government to resource the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) enough to enable it to intensify road safety campaigns in the region.
Making the appeal, the Eastern Regional Branch Chairman of the Ghana Private Road and Transport Union (GPRTU), Alhaji Baba Kankani, said the NRSC was working so hard to ensure road crashes are minimised and that it is when they are well resourced that the Commission can work to achieve that aim.
“It is the government who established the road safety (Commission), so it must pay much attention to it,” he said.
According to other drivers, the negative behaviours of some of their colleague drivers call for the urgent intervention of the NRSC and to regularly visit their terminals with road safety education.
“Most of the drivers drink, smoke and abuse drugs including taking tramadol; the Union cautions us but the drivers are still adamant, so Road Safety (Commission) must intensify campaign on such behaviours,” one of the drivers said.
The drivers made the appeal when the NRSC together with the National Youth Authority (NYA) embarked on “Value the lives of your passengers” campaign in the various lorry terminals in Koforidua.
Lauding the NRSC and the NYA for undertaking such a timely campaign, the drivers complained that road markings on most of the roads had cleaned off and, thus, appealed that appropriate authorities should fix road markings on all roads in the region.
The drivers also expressed unhappiness about the bad state of some of the roads in the Eastern Region which were bursting their tyres and therefore apealed to the government to fix them.
On her part, the Deputy Eastern Regional Manager of the NRSC, Ms. Indira Apronti, advised the motorists to master the roads they ply whether good or bad so they save their own lives and their passengers’.
She emphasised that, “it is not just the nature of the roads that create the accidents but it is also about the human being holding the vehicle and the state of the vehicle itself.”
