Public Relations officer of the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), Pearl Adusu Gyasi, has expressed the need to ensure a thorough enforcement of road traffic regulations in the country.

According to her, commuters and road users must comply with traffic regulations in the country. Madam Gyasi explained that it is equally crucial to educate the public extensively on these regulations.

“We need enforcement, tighten rigorous enforcement coupled with the education, that is what will do, but when we relax in our bid to enforce these rules because they don’t know and then they are apprehended and prosecuted, the sanctions meted out to them is not very harsh to deter themselves and others, these things will continue to happen on our roads despite the continuous education”.
Pearl Adusu Gyasi

She noted that road safety is a shared responsibility, stressing the need for road users to be responsible and comply with road regulations.

Her comments follow report from the Motor, Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service which revealed that 81 persons died from road crashes while 378 others were injured during the Christmas festivities across the country.

The deaths, according to the police, were recorded from December 19 to 25 within the Christmas period.

Traffic regulations Act to be made available to drivers

Commenting on what the Authority plans to do to ensure some portions of the traffic regulations Act is made available to drivers in different languages, the PRO for the Authority indicated that it is already part of the operations of the Authority.

“This is what we do but we will make it more readily available. We would have to tighten our belt. Our offices are all over the country and for every region they go out for outreach, they speak the languages the native [and] indigenes will understand. Even in Accra, when we go to a Ga settlement, we speak Ga. Even with the information center we have established and we will be opening soon, all the various Ghanaian languages are there”.
Pearl Adusu Gyasi

Director-General of the MTTD, DCOP Francis Aboagye Nyarko bemoaned the rate at which road crashes occur in the country.

According to him, the situation is a real cause for concern.

“The figure for the 19th to 25th December indicates the persons who were injured were 378 and during that time period 81 people also died throughout the country and it is increasingly very worrisome”.
DCOP Francis Aboagye Nyarko

Cause of the accidents

DCOP Aboagye Nyarko noted that the situation is a result of indiscipline and disregard for road and traffic regulations by some drivers.

“It is basically attributable to indiscipline by those who are driving vehicles on our roads. It is the key factor. They don’t respect traffic rules and regulations…. That is very problematic”.
DCOP Francis Aboagye Nyarko

He revealed that the MTTD will ensure much effort is put into it this year to make sure that the problem is addressed.

Elsewhere, Director of Operations at the Police MTTD, Superintendent Dr. Sasu Mensah expressed that the accidents were avoidable.

“Most of the drivers on our roads are not respecting traffic rules and regulations. Some of the motorists have not even seen the traffic regulations before, so they are not aware of most of the regulations that govern road use. That is why we have most of the crashes occurring on our roads”.
Superintendent Dr. Sasu Mensah