Upper East NRSC engage political parties to ensure road safety

Bolgatanga, Oct. 29, GNA- Mrs May Obiri Yeboah, Director of Planning and Programmes at the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) has reiterated the need for stakeholders to ensure greater emphasis on their roles in the road safety sector to aid the commission achieve its envisaged targets.      She called for a more effective collaboration between stakeholders to bring to an end the crashes recorded in the last quarter of the year resulting in numerous fatalities.      Mrs Obiri Yeboah was speaking in Bolgatanga, at a stakeholder forum with political party executives in the Upper East Region to discuss current road safety issues and the Road Safety Code of Conduct for political parties.      The day’s forum was to streamline activities for road safety with consideration on the upcoming elections and Christmas festivities.      Statistics from the NRSC indicate that election years were fatal years and that during the last two election years; Ghana lost about 4,124 people in road crashes. In 2004, 2,186 deaths were recorded towering above the 2003 and 2005 fatality numbers.      She said the Upper East Region was not exempted in the trend, bearing in mind what occurs during electioneering and campaign periods when the youth were involved in reckless riding.      She therefore cautioned against the act of ignoring timely education and activities for road users by state agencies.      Mr Atilado Mohammed, Regional Road Safety Manager, expressed worry about the road safety situation in the region and the country as a whole, indicating that, the region had set a target to reduce fatalities arising from road crashes at a limit of 39 deaths.      “I’m however saddened to admit that we are frantically struggling to keep the figure below 50 at the moment”, he said, adding that “it is in line with this that we convene to explore ways to possibly minimize casualty rate especially during the electioneering period and Christmas festivities”.      He further added that road safety was a shared responsibility, urging stakeholders to as a matter of urgency help save lives from these preventable daily fatalities.      Regional MTTU Commander, ASP Daniel Kwao Teye entreated individuals to desist from the act of tagging the Police with political party colours in the performance of their “mandate to protect lives and property.”      He called for the maximum cooperation of the general public in their bid to reduce indiscipline on the roads during this electioneering and Christmas festivities.      Political party representatives pledged to educate their members to ensure their safety as the electioneering campaigns gather momentum.   GNA... Read Full Story