The Western Regional Commander of the Motor Traffic and Transport Directorate (MTTD) has reiterated the need to religiously adhere to road traffic regulations, to reduce the spate of road crashes.
According to Chief Superintendent Isaac Sorkpah, drivers must be cautious on the road since the lives of many people are in their hands and any accident results in a national calamity.
His comments follow a deadly head-on collision on the Takoradi- Cape Coast highway which left 14 persons burnt to death.
Confirming the accident, he said it involved a tipper truck and a Ford bus with registration number GW 5628-21, which had onboard, some Ghanaians and a Chinese national travelling from Tarkwa.
The Chief Superintendent narrated that the tipper truck driver lost control after busting a front tyre, veered off its lane and collided into the Ford bus thus spilling the boulders it carried.
But speaking on Wednesday’s edition of Angel FM’s Anopa Bofo Breakfast Show, he said “let’s go back to the road traffic regulations and be committed to bring back sanity on our roads.”
“We must all promote a very good driving behaviour which I term as responsible driving. When we are all responsible and do what we are supposed to do, and stop speeding where we are not supposed to, we will reduce the spate of accidents that we are witnessing.”
While responding to a question about dualization of roads to reduce accidents, he noted that there are engineers and technical people to advise on that but admitted that dualization when done will be good.
But in the interim, the focus must be on promoting responsible driving and effective usage of the roads available.
While noting that most road crashes are avoidable, he stated that due to poverty people buy inferior car parts such as tyres which increases the rate of accidents.
“Before moving your car do a vehicle parade to ensure all parts are in good shape. Check your tyres because some tyres have nice teeth but they are expired and not good for our road conditions. All of these are because of lack of money and when confronted with pressure they burst…”, he said in Twi.
Meanwhile, the National Road Safety Authority has recently attributed the fatal multiple accidents being recorded to excessive speeding and wrongful overtaking.
