A total of 2,924 persons died in 2021 through road crashes, theNational Road Safety Authority (NRSA) has revealed.
Additionally, 15,972 road crashes were recorded within the same period, resulting in 13,048injuries.
To this end, the NRSA has announced thatit would,this year,enforce strictly its directive to all intercity bus operators that travel more than 500 kilometres or more than eight hours should engage two drivers.
The directive, given by the Authority last year, is aimed at minimising the risks associated with night driving and ensuring that the drivers do not drive while tired, leading to accidents.
The Director-General of the NRSA, Mrs May Obiri-Yeboah, speaking at a day’s workshop in Kumasi on Tuesday, said the strict enforcement of all road safety laws this year had become essential due to the stubbornness on the part of drivers and other road users, which had made the roads unsafe.
The event, organised by NRSA, and attended by the various transport unions in the Ashanti Region, was to discuss the way forward to significantly reduce road crashes in the region.
The Ashanti Region, she said, recorded the second highest number of 3,470 road crashes with 2,864 injuries and 606 deaths between January and December.
She attributed the increasing number of crashes to indiscipline among road users and irresponsibility among policy makers.
MrsObiri-Yeboah said the Authority was appointing Road Safety officers at the various lorry terminals in the country to monitor the terminals as part of efforts to help reduce road crashes.
Speaking on the ‘Stay Alive’ campaign, she said the overall objective was a call on all and sundry to be Road Safety advocates.
The “Stay Alive Campaign” is an individual and collective obligation to be more conscious, more involved, more responsible, and more accountable and to accept full responsibility for the carnage on the road rather than to attribute it to the work of the devil.
It is also to induce positive behavioural change that encourages road users to, at all times , observe and advocate compliance with road traffic regulations, report infractions and also elicit greater commitments to safety from policy makers, implementers and enforcers, she said.
“All must, therefore, resolve to adopt a positive road safety culture to help fight against road fatalities and injuries,” MrsObiri-Yeboah stated.
She urged road users, especially drivers and motorcycle riders, to be disciplined, circumspect and responsible to help curb the carnage on the road and cautioned drivers who drive more than 500 kilometres to adopt the two driver initiative since the Authority would enforce it to reduce the crashes.
Mr Francis Asamoah, a driver, said the two-driver initiative would help reduce road crashes, but appealed to the Authority to ensure that the laws were enforced at all times.
He appealed to the NRSA and the Police to check vehicles involved in overloading to prevent them from causing road accidents.
FROM KINGSLEY E.HOPE, KUMASI
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