Accra, Dec. 22, GNA – The Reverend Thomas Henry Quamson, Senior Pastor, Assemblies of God, Holy Ghost Worship Centre, Ashaiman, on Tuesday urged drivers and road users to prioritize safety on road during the Christmas to reduce accidents.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) Rev. Quamson said Christmas and New Year festivities is traditionally characterized with travelling and accidents on the roads.
He said such unfortunate circumstances in joyful moments as Christmas was disturbing and needed attention from all road users and stakeholders.
“Many valuable human resource have been lost to road accidents which could have been avoided,” he said.
Being a victim of road accidents in the past Rev. Quamson said “I understand very well the innocence of victims”.
He identified some of the causes of road accidents as: bad roads, lack of streetlights, and inadequate presence of security, inexperience drivers, driving fatigue, speeding, and other human errors.
He urged drivers not to drive under the influence of alcohol while calling on the National Road Safety Authority and stakeholders to increase alcohol detection tests of drivers on major roads across the country.
He said offenders should be brought to book.
Rev. Quamson suggested that a psychiatric medical examination should be made mandatory and as part of the medical examination requirements for issuance of Licence to drivers.
He said this would help ascertain the mental health of persons behind the steering wheel on roads.
Additionally, he suggested that there should be a ban on buses traveling after 22:00 hours because he had observed that most deadly accidents recorded had been at dawn or night.
“If a medical practitioner makes a mistake in the theater and someone dies it’s only one life lost but if a driver with passengers makes a mistake on the road many lives will be lost on the spot,” he said.
He recalled that in 1982 during the Curfew period, when busses were prevented from moving at night there were not many accidents and the same could be said of the lockdown period earlier this year.
He advised drivers to rest when they feel tired to avoid accidents due to fatigue.
GNA