GNA – Mr Kofi Akpaloo, Presidential Candidate for the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG) in the 2020 Elections on Wednesday called on insurance companies to do proper risk assessment of drivers before charging for vehicle insurance cover.
Mr Akpaloo speaking at the Tema Ghana News Agency and Motor Transport and Traffic Department (MTTD) road safety campaign platform said having a flat rate for vehicle insurance was not the best.
The GNA road safety campaign is a continuous educational platform given to stakeholders to speak to their constituents on how best to contribute to making the country’s road safer and crash free.
“The way they insure cars here in Ghana is wrong, no risk analysis is done,” he said adding that those with higher risk must be made to pay more premiums as a measure to reduce their risky behaviour on the road.
Mr Akpaloo said the number of claims a driver made over their driving years must be checked to calculate their risk and the premium to pay stressing that, “two people having different risks should not pay the same to insurance.”
According to him, because there was no risk assessment and insurance companies were only interested in the make of the vehicles and the type of insurance be it comprehensive or third-party, some drivers plied the roads with no caution or regards to road signs and regulations.
He added that in addition to the risk factor, insurance companies must also assess the age, and other related factors of drivers who would use the vehicles to insure them instead of only insuring the vehicles.
Touching on other road crash contributory factors, he said regulators such as the MTTD, National Road Safety Authority, Driver Vehicle and Licensing Authority (DVLA) and the National Insurance Commission were not playing their regulatory roles well.
Mr Akpaloo explained for instance that some MTTD officials stationed at roundabout watch on for drivers to do the wrong thing by refusing to give way to those on their left in accordance with driving laws.
He said they also looked on for long slow-moving vehicles to drive in inner lanes forcing other drivers to use the wrong side of the roads to overtake, which sometimes resulted in avoidable road crashes.
He said the DVLA on its part also looked on for people to drive about in unregistered vehicles for years without registering, adding that the Authority also registered vehicles without any proper identifiable address which drivers could be traced to when they infringe on the law during driving.
He called for retraining for all regulators to ensure that they stayed focused and discharged their mandate to ensure the safety of the roads and curbed the upsurge in road crashes.
Mr. Francis Ameyibor, the Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Manager said, whatever happened on the road affected all citizens.
He said there were instances, where people were in their homes and vehicles run into their homes and killed them.
Mr Ameyibor said in view of the devastation of road crashes, every institution must play its role to ensure protection of lives on the roads.
GNA