The Ashanti Regional branch of the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) has said motorcycle and tricycle contribute to about 30 percent of accident-related deaths in the region.
To curb this alarming trend, the Commission has organized a training programme for over 120 riders in the Asokore Mampong Municipality, where activities of the riders are widespread.
Speaking to Citi News, the regional head of the Commission, Sambiat Wiredu said her outfit decided to train the riders on best road safety practices to help preserve lives.
“In Ashanti Region, comparing road traffic clashes and its related fatalities and injuries for this year, we saw that a total of 195 persons have been killed and more than 500 people have been injured. When we investigated, we saw that close to 30 percent of these crashes involve motorcycles and tricycles. When we compared the raw figure, we saw that more than 60 people have died from the motorcycle and tricycle related clashes. That informed our decision to get them together and educate them on best road safety practices”.
Miss Sambiat Wiredu again made a call on the Police MTTD to enforce laws strictly to prevent minors from engaging in motorcycle and tricycle activities for commercial purposes and also prevent persons without licenses from riding.
“ We gathered that a lot of riders are under-aged. That means they are less than 18 years. Also, most of them do not have license. We are urging our stakeholders to work harder. They should try and enforce the LI. The part that states that under-aged persons should not ride and if you are within the right age, you should ride with the rider’s license which is the license A. We want the Police service to enforce that particular law so that we can get some sort of sanity on our roads”.
The riders in a Citi News interview described the training by the National Road Safety Commission as very helpful.
They, however, renewed calls for legislation on legalization of their activities for commercial purposes to be fast-tracked.
They argued that they pay taxes but are still not deemed as persons engaging in legitimate businesses.
Public Relations Officer of the riders in Ashanti Region, Hassan Bawa told Citi News that they want the matter to be considered by parliament for a lasting decision to be taken as early as possible.
“We want the processes concerning the legalization to be fast-tracked. We want it to be legalized because this is creating employment for a lot of people”.
