Tema, Sept. 15, GNA – Mr Tonny Dickson Afriford, a Road Crashes and Injury Prevention Analyst, has commended the Ashaiman Cooperative Drivers Union for being good at ensuring that its members adhere to various roads safety regulations.
Mr Afriford gave the commendation when he joined the Ghana News Agency-Tema Regional Office and Tema Regional MTTD Road Safety platform to educate people on the various crashes that has been occurring within the Tema Region of which Ashaiman was part.
He said “Ashaiman Cooperative is one of the good unions we have in the Region. They don’t beg for their drivers when arrested for road traffic offences.”
He added that leadership of the Union have put their numbers on the various vehicles under them for road users and passengers to report the conducts of the drivers for sanctions when need be.
He noted that they also ensured that their members carried out daily check on their vehicle’s tyre pressure, engine oil, and brake fluid, among others before being allowed to load from the station to their various destinations.
The Analyst urged other unions to emulate them to ensure that the road became safe for all road users, saying it was worrying that the Tema Region was noted for opinion leaders and others always pleading for the release of road offenders in their area.
Giving the statistics of road crashes in the Region between January and May 2021, he disclosed that a total of 66 fatal, 257 serious, and 222 minor road crashes between January and May 2021 had occurred.
Mr Afriford added that the total number of injured persons were 667 during the period, while 80 were unfortunately killed.
Mr Francis Ameyibor, Tema Regional Manager of Ghana News Agency, said the Tema-MTTD Road Safety Campaign project sought to actively create consistent and systematic weekly awareness advocacy, on the need for road users to be cautious on the road, to enable the country curb the rising increase in road crashes.
Mr Ameyibor also called for attitudinal change on the road, noting that among the many causes of road crashes, carelessness by drivers and other road users was a big challenge that contributed to road accident in the Region and the country as a whole.
GNA