Chief Teete Owusu-Nortey, a member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) has urged public officials to help in halting road accidents in the country.
According to him, prominent personalities such as the President should be propagators for road safety. This, he revealed, will help chart the path to eradicate this menace.
“We need a champion like the President of the Republic to move this agenda forward. The president should broadcast to the nation that road traffic crashes are a killer and he expects all stakeholders to perform their duties without fear or favour”.
Mr Owusu-Nortey further stressed on the need for government to ban the use of commercial motorcycles popularly known as ‘okada’. He explained that this will help reduce road crashes in the country.
“Okada must be stopped, the sharp upwards crash from 2017 to 2020 could be attributed to the rapid increase of motorcycles and tricycles for commercial purposes and their knocking down of pedestrians”.
Okada proliferation in the country
Furthermore, Mr. Owusu-Nortey revealed that motorcycles usage is on the rise due to the lack of employment opportunities for young people.
Additionally, he insists that “it is important that authorities must address this to minimize the use of ‘okada’ as a means of earning a living.”
Mr. Owusu-Nortey further stressed on the need for proper education and law enforcement, by the government to curb the menace. He further suggested that better roads with enhanced safety features are necessary on our major highways.
According to him, this will equally help curb road carnage in the country.
Ing. May Obiri-Yeboah, the Director-General of the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), also admonished persons in high public offices to desist from actions that impede the works of the Motor Transport and Traffic Directorate (MTTD).
According to her, they must rather be involved and actively support the MTTD rather to ensure the protection of human lives and properties.
“All stakeholders should support the NRSC to regulate the road transport sector for our own good. We must chart a path that places value on our lives as road users above all considerations. More importantly, we must dedicate ourselves to investing more in road safety”.
NRSA to regulate transport operators
Meanwhile, the Transport Minister, Kwaku Ofori Asaimah has announced that the National Road Safety Authority is set to regulate transport operators.
He revealed the move will help the Authority to properly ascertain and ensure compliance amongst transport operators.
“We did so not because we believe in name. We did so because we wanted the institution to have the power to enforce institutional compliance. Because without that legal framework, without having an authority which will enforce institutional compliance, it was going to be difficult for that particular institution to do its work and do it well”.
Mr Asiamah further indicated that the Transport Ministry has noticed that the road transport operators’ system was without regulators. To rectify this, he explained the decision by his outfit to charge NRSA with that mandate.
Similarly, he also appealed to transport operators to comply with the new order the NRSA is currently working on.
“It’s not going to be such a way that they are going to stampede. But I think it is important that this important work that all of us are doing, we must come under one umbrella, so that you must know what it is that we need to do”.
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