Sunyani, May 21, GNA – A draft Legislative Instrument (LI) to push for realistic implementation of the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) Act 2019, Act 993 would soon be put before Parliament, Mrs. May Obiri Yeboah, the Director-General of the NRSA has said.
Currently, she explained the Attorney General was under-studying the draft LI and would enforce the regulatory mandate of the Authority when passed.
Mrs. Yeboah said this when addressing Heads of Department Meeting of the Bono Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) as part of her two-day working visit to the region.
Accompanied by Mr. Kwame Koduah Atuahene, the Head of Regulations, Inspectorate and Complaints Department of the NRSA and other key staff of the Authority, Mrs. Yeboah explained that she was in the region to build institutional collaboration and support towards the new mandate of the Authority.
Mrs. Yeboah regretted that despite intensified road safety education, reported cases of road crashes continued to increase and appealed to all the departmental heads to collectively support the Authority in curbing road accidents.
She said road accidents killed 2,500 people last year, adding that from January to April this year, about 1,000 people had also died through road crashes.
Mrs. Yeboah said the issue of the use of motorcycles and tricycles for commercial activities remained a huge national challenge, saying, motorcycles and tricycles alone contributed to about 40 per cent of the road accidents recorded last year.
Earlier, Mrs. Yeboah paid a courtesy call on Madam Justina Owusu-Banahene, the Bono Region Minister, and discussed how best the region could collaborate with the NRSA to bring sanity on the road.
She congratulated the Regional Minister on her appointment and expressed the hope that the RCC would support all the activities of the Authority.
Mrs. Yeboah rallied the support of Mad. Owusu-Banahene for the successful implementation of the pre-departure checks introduced by the Authority at bus terminals.
On her part, Mad. Owusu-Banahene commended the Authority for its efforts to reduce crashes on the highways and stressed the need for the NRSA to intensify road safety education by translating education programmes into other local languages.
This, she said would greatly help citizens to better understand road safety regulations and bring about positive change in the mindset of the populace.
Mad Owusu-Banahene emphasized the importance for the Authority to collaborate with road sector agencies and see possibilities of expanding and designing dedicated roads for motorcycles and tricycles.
She called for effective collaboration between the NRSA and the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies towards enacting and enforcing bye-laws that would help reduce road crashes and vehicular knockdowns.
GNA