The Senior Planning Manager of the National Road Safety Authority, Victor Kojo Bilson has indicated that, political activities contribute to the surge in the rate of road traffic crashes every election year.
Speaking to an Accra based television station; Mr. Bilson said the activities of political parties every election year brings together huge crowds, which he stated as one of the factors of increase in the number of road accidents.
He said his outfit recorded some of the lowest road accident cases during the COVID-19 lockdown period due to the less movement of people and cars on the roads. He also made mention of speeding as another dreadful factor of road accident and also high fatality rate.
“Our political heads, be it those in power and those not in power, turn to embark on these campaigns and they carry along huge numbers everywhere they go and the number one killer on our road happens to be the issue of speed and the human being is also a factor.”
“Let me take you back to some few months when there was this total lockdown, movements were limited and we recorded drastic reductions when it comes to road traffic crashes and it related crashes and injuries. So we know the more people move, the higher figures we record, and the faster they go, the higher the figures be it fatalities, serious injuries, and minor injuries as well.”
Mr. Bilson further expressed his dismay in the indifference of some road users towards the road safety laws of the country. He cited the speeding of some vehicles when driving in convoy as well as the overloading of cars and motorbikes when driving. He stated that these misconducts account for the high numbers of road accidents the country faces each election year.
“These action of convoys, and we know there are special ways of driving in a convoy; the faster you go, the longer your braking distance. But we see a lot of vehicles following each other, very close, yet driving at a very high speed. If there is an anomaly, every other vehicle following get involved in that particular crush because safety nets have been broken.”
“We see people; about four or five people, riding on one motorcycle and they throw caution to the wind, you see none of them wearing a crash helmet. People will ask, what are the police doing? The police cannot chase every biker out there, what are we doing for ourselves?”
“We see a small vehicle, maybe a saloon car, which is supposed to pick just five people; you’ll be surprised to count as many as fifteen people in that vehicle.”
He later admonished the general public to adhere to the safety laws and measures, which have been carefully designed by his outfit and, other road experts such as the mandatory 30munities rest after a four-hour drive. As well as the avoidance of caffeinated drinks among others, in order to stay awake when tired. He said this will help safeguard road users and help curb the raging numbers of road accidents.
