By Dennis Peprah
Sunyani, Aug. 28, GNA – CSOs Alliance for Road Safety – Ghana (CARS-GH), a network of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) is to start a vigorous nationwide road safety campaign to help bring road crashes and fatalities under control.
CARS-Ghana advocates and implements road safety initiatives to augment efforts by the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) to reduce crashes on the country’s highways.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani, Mr Raphael Godlove Ahenu, a ranking member of the CARS-Ghana said, “we are joining forces with the NRSA to bring down these crashes and needless deaths on our highways under the barest minimum.”
Available statistics showed that a total of 3,340 cases of crashes were recorded between January and March 2023, killing 544 people, Mr. Ahenu said.
But he continued global estimates also showed about 1.35 million people died through road crashes annually, with an additional 50 million people sustaining various degrees of injuries leading to disabilities.
Mr Ahenu, also the Chief Executive Officer of Global Media Foundation, a human rights media advocacy organisation said the importance of road safety in the nation’s developmental agenda could not be over-emphasised because it remained essential for rapid socio-economic development.
But he added developing countries were confronted with challenges relating to road safety which aggravated the already heavily burdened health-care systems.
“Concerns about road traffic collision have been on the front burner of many nations’ particularly developing countries where road safety issues are compounded not only by an increase in population, but also inadequate road infrastructure and ineffective safety policies and transportation systems,” Mr. Ahenu stated.
He called for effective collaboration between the government, NRSA, CARS-GH “where everyone is involved in the process of developing and implementing strategies aimed at overcoming challenges on our roads.”
Mr Ahenu said there was also the need to address the epidemic carnage of road traffic injuries many of which are preventable since they emanated from human actions and inactions.
He expressed worry about “lack of appropriate knowledge on road safety among road agencies’ staff, policy makers and lower level personnel such as traffic controllers who lack satisfactory knowledge on basic procedures with regard to road safety.”
“CARS-GH road safety campaigns are key part of its strategy to make everyone aware of the importance of road safety and the consequences of disregarding traffic regulations,” Mr Ahenu said, reminding that “raising awareness of the dangers of driver fatigue is very crucial as we are heading towards the Christmas festivities.”
GNA