Tema, Dec. 24, GNA— Alhaji Khuzaima Mohammed Osman, the Executive Secretary of the Tijjaniya Muslims Movement of Ghana, has advised religious leaders to inculcate a campaign on road safety as part of their responsibility.
He said religious leaders should take road safety campaigns as a responsibility as the road accidents were killing people more than riots. The number of lives lost through violence cannot be compared to that of a road accident.
He said road crashes data were alarming as every year politicians, academia, farmers, businessmen, children, and religious leaders end their lives on the road.
Alhaji Osman was speaking on the impact of road crashes on the Muslim community and the role of Islamic leaders to reduce road carnage at the Ghana News Agency, Tema Regional Office, and the Tema Motor Transport and Traffic Department (MTTD) road safety campaign platform.
The Tema GNA and MTTD Road Safety Project seeks to actively create consistent and systematic weekly awareness on the need to be cautious on the road as users, educate all road users of their respective responsibilities, and sensitize drivers especially of the tenets of road safety regulations, rules, and laws.
Alhaji Osman urged drivers to check their cars every morning before driving out.
He entreated all religious leaders to educate the youth to condemn the act of displaying on a motorbikes, riding without a helmet, and sitting on top of cars during occasions.
The Tijjaniya Muslims Movement Executive Director commended the Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office for the targeted road safety campaign.
Mr Francis Ameyibor, Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Manager called on the motoring public to avoid a ‘Christmas suicide mission’ on the road, “Christmas is a joyous moment, don’t create an unfortunate situation for families to mourn”.
He expressed concern that the Christmas festive period is gradually assuming another dimension as many families lose their loved ones through reckless and avoidable road crashes, “This Christmas season let us all work together to reduce human errors associated with road crashes”.
He noted that ‘suicide drivers’ have hit Ghana’s major roads including the motorway, highways, and other inner-city roads killing hundreds of people. “We must therefore work together to disarm them as the road accident fatality rate is on the increase”.
Mr Ameyibor explained that suicide drivers can be identified on the road through their careless driving antics, level of speeding, disregard to road safety regulations, usage of mobile or electronic devices while driving, and lack of concentration on the road.
He also cautioned ‘suicide pedestrians’ who cross the road with a care-free attitude, absent-mindedness, using a mobile phone or other devices, and failure to adhere to safety mechanisms.
Mr Ameyibor, therefore, called for attitudinal change on the road in order to reduce accidents, “most road accidents are purely human-induced acts”.
He also appealed to religious leaders to use their pulpit to preach against suicide missions on the roads, “anytime you mount the pulpit, spend just two minutes of your time educating your congregation about road safety.
“All public speakers, anytime you have a platform to speak, please spend just two minutes talking on the need for us all to be conscious on the road. There are some human factors which we can collectively work together to reduce road crashes”.
GNA