Road accidents have caused the nation to lose a lot.
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19th November, 2010
A SCHEME WORTH SUSTAINING
A lot of accidents on our roads are caused by human error. This is either through negligence or lack of knowledge of the rules and regulations of driving.
Meanwhile, the existing punitive measures are not corrective enough, and this requires that further training is given to drivers in order to eliminate careless driving which sometimes leads to avoidable accidents.
Defensive driving is the surest way of eliminating if not minimising the current high spate of road accidents which bring untold hardship to most families.
According to the National Road Safety Commission’s Annual Report for 2008, a cumulative total of 176,873 crashes involving 272 vehicles were recorded, resulting in hundreds of casualties.
These notwithstanding, road accidents have caused the country to lose millions of Ghana Cedis, which formed about 1.65 per cent of the Gross Domestic Products (GDP).
It is unfortunate that at the time the nation is crying for good and motorable roads, the accident rate keeps increasing. The current trend poses a major challenge to all stakeholders in the transport industry, especially drivers.
It is in this regard that the Times appreciates efforts being made by the Ministry of Transport and the National Road Safety Commission to introduce interventions that would stem the tide of high accident rate across the country.
As a step towards whipping up drivers’ enthusiasm, the Ministry of Transport, in conjunction with the NRSC, has instituted an award scheme for best performing transport unions, drivers and organisations.
The maiden award ceremony scheduled for tomorrow, is meant to reward transport unions and terminals with least number of road accidents in the year.
The Times views this as laudable and a step in the right direction since it would motivate drivers and transport unions to exhibit high level of professionalism in their vocation.
Besides, it would encourage floating drivers to attach themselves to the unions and follow laid-down rules and regulations to minimise road accident.
The union or public transport operators would also have regulatory control over their members for effective implementation of road traffic regulations.
The scheme could not have come at a better time, especially when road safety has become a collective and shared responsibility among all stakeholders in the transport industry.
We, therefore, hope that it would not be one of those talk shops, but be sustained on regular basis when it finally takes off tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the existing punitive measures are not corrective enough, and this requires that further training is given to drivers in order to eliminate careless driving which sometimes leads to avoidable accidents.
Defensive driving is the surest way of eliminating if not minimising the current high spate of road accidents which bring untold hardship to most families.
According to the National Road Safety Commission’s Annual Report for 2008, a cumulative total of 176,873 crashes involving 272 vehicles were recorded, resulting in hundreds of casualties.
These notwithstanding, road accidents have caused the country to lose millions of Ghana Cedis, which formed about 1.65 per cent of the Gross Domestic Products (GDP).
It is unfortunate that at the time the nation is crying for good and motorable roads, the accident rate keeps increasing. The current trend poses a major challenge to all stakeholders in the transport industry, especially drivers.
It is in this regard that the Times appreciates efforts being made by the Ministry of Transport and the National Road Safety Commission to introduce interventions that would stem the tide of high accident rate across the country.
As a step towards whipping up drivers’ enthusiasm, the Ministry of Transport, in conjunction with the NRSC, has instituted an award scheme for best performing transport unions, drivers and organisations.
The maiden award ceremony scheduled for tomorrow, is meant to reward transport unions and terminals with least number of road accidents in the year.
The Times views this as laudable and a step in the right direction since it would motivate drivers and transport unions to exhibit high level of professionalism in their vocation.
Besides, it would encourage floating drivers to attach themselves to the unions and follow laid-down rules and regulations to minimise road accident.
The union or public transport operators would also have regulatory control over their members for effective implementation of road traffic regulations.
The scheme could not have come at a better time, especially when road safety has become a collective and shared responsibility among all stakeholders in the transport industry.
We, therefore, hope that it would not be one of those talk shops, but be sustained on regular basis when it finally takes off tomorrow.
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