By Morkporkpor Anku
Accra, Oct. 28, GNA – The National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), together with its partner, has installed the first solar-powered electronic radar speed sign on the Accra-Tema Motorway.
The radar speed sign will showcase to drivers using the Motorway the level of their speed as they move.
Mr David Osafo Adonteng, the Acting Director-General of NRSA, justified the installation during the launch of the device, saying, “as we are already aware, speeding generally in Ghana contributes very significantly to road crashes, especially on certain roads within the country.”
He said the roads were the Accra-Tema Motorway, the Accra-Kumasi highway and then Accra through Kasoa to Winneba and Cape Coast to Takoradi routes.
He said over 60 per cent of road crashes were attributable to speeding.
The Acting Director-General said the Road Traffic Regulation 2012 LI 2180 indicated that while on a highway and approaching settlement, where people lived, drivers needed to reduce their speed to 50km/hr or less.
Mr Adonteng said when drivers got to areas where there were schools, children, markets, churches and human interaction, they needed to drop the speed limit to 30km/hr.
“It is only on this motorway that you can go on top speed but even not more than 100km/hr, ” he added.
He said unfortunately, majority of drivers looked at the Motorway as an expressway to test their vehicle.
“Most of these vehicles do not even have speedometer, especially the ‘trotro’ drivers, they do not have speedometers at all, “ he noted.
Mr Adonteng said the Authority’recent research indicated that some buses, especially 207 and Sprinters, did not have speedometers, so the drivers were unaware when they drove on top speeds.
The Acting Director-General said the difficulty was that most vehicles that used the Motorway had tyre problems, which easily caused crashes when on top speed.
He said, “if they are able to control speeds, then they are very likely to reduce the deaths and injuries and that is the more reason why we are working with the Ghana Highway Authority, the Department of Urban and Feeder Roads to install the road signs.”
GNA