By Laudia Sawer
Tema, May 13, GNA – Chief Superintendent Alexander Kwaku Obeng, the Director of Education, Research and Training, Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD), has urged vehicle owners to regularly maintain their vehicles as a key measure to reduce road crashes.
Chief Supt. Obeng said the maintenance of vehicles was in line with the road traffic regulations, adding that lightning systems and having the right notices on the vehicles, especially trucks and other long vehicles, were very important in the fight against road carnage.
He said this when addressing transit truck drivers and other stakeholders at a day’s sensitisation workshop organised by the Ghana Shippers Authority (GSA) on the various road regulations and other regulations covering axle loading and transportation of hazardous goods.
He also charged them to hand over their vehicles to only licensed and trained drivers to ensure that the vehicles were being used appropriately on the roads to save lives and properties and also build their businesses.
Chief Supt. Obeng expressed worry that between January and April this year, over 4700 road crashes had been recorded in the country, involving over 8000 vehicles, leading to over 5000 injured persons and over 1000 dead.
He added that 1,365 of the crashes involved trucks, showing a worrying trend of preventable accident surging, which was not only affecting lives but also impacting truck owners and their drivers.
He asked the drivers to think about the impact of such preventable crashes on lives, properties, goods, and the economy: “You can imagine the impact economically and then the death of humans, injuries and property damage, and goods that are lost, and then your capital”.
Chief Supt. Obeng attributed some of the causes of such crashes to defective lights, tyres, reflectors, or the drivers having some issues, overloading, overtaking, and abandoning faulty vehicles in the middle of the road.
He further urged them to follow the provisions in the road traffic regulations and rest after four hours of driving to prevent fatigue.
He said drivers and the public should not always be happy in the absence of the police on the roads, as their presence could help check indiscipline on the road and reduce the increasing road crashes.
GNA
LS/CAA