Cape Coast, March 25, GNA – StreetSense Organisation, a Ghanaian road safety advocacy organisation, has supported the Central Region office of the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) with 100 road safety branded T-shirts, 900 stickers on road safety and some unspecified amount to aid road safety activities.
This followed a request by the regional office of the Authority to the organisation to support it to effectively roll out its outlined program to promote road safety awareness ahead of the Easter festivities.
The NRSA as part of its Easter campaign intended to organize health talk and screening for drivers at various transport terminals across the Region as well institute driver incentive schemes to encourage compliance of road traffic regulations.
Presenting the items, Mr Samson Addoye, National Coordinator of StreetSense Organisation, expressed concern over the blatant disregard for road traffic regulations in the country, making Ghana the worse road traffic offender in Africa.
He said his organisation was an effective road safety partner and that it would continue to engage other partners and regulatory bodies such as the NRSA to ensure safety on the road.
He enumerated the negative impact of road fatalities on the economy of the country and underscored the need to invest more resources to reduce road traffic crashes.
Mr Addoye said 70 percent of road traffic crashes were as a result of bad driver behaviour and therefore the need to focus attention on education.
Ms Linda Affotey-Annang, Regional Head of the NRSA, thanked StreetSense Organisation for the kind gesture.
She said the Authority was adopting a number of innovations in executing their mandate to coordinate and to regulate activities, procedures and standards related to road safety.
“Drivers need varied and comprehensive education on the road. The Driver Life Long Learning project has been monitored and evaluated as a project worth pursuing to educate drivers at various terminals within the region,” she said.
The Region as at the end of February 2021 recorded a total of 164 road traffic crashes as against 114 in the same period 2020.
However, she said, the number of persons killed had drastically reduced from 68 in 2020 to 29 in 2021, representing a whooping reduction of 57.4 percent.
She said pedestrian knockdown and recorded cases increased during the period under review, but the Authority would continue to rate the necessary awareness to change the narrative by the end of the year.
Speaking about activities for the year 2021, Ms Affotey-Annang, said the Authority would intensify its road safety floats and walks to increase visibility and convey road safety messages in a more effective way while collaborating with NGOs, CSOs, companies and institutions.
She added that the Authority would make effective use of its Regulation, Inspection and Compliance and encourage the use of corrective and preventative measures to tackle road traffic crashes in the Region.
She called for more collaboration and support from cooperate institutions, NGOs, CSOs towards the fight against the rising indiscipline of the road user in the Region.
“The focus of 2021 requires funding to achieve it. The Region recommend that increase in funding is needed to help cater for the massive projects and activities coming up,” she added.
GNA