The Director for Planning and Programming at the National Road Safety Authority, David Osafo Adonteng, says high levels of indiscipline on the roads have led to a high number of recorded deaths this year.
“There are certain problems that we are facing. For example, road users when it comes to drivers, riders and pedestrians, the indiscipline is so high. How come you cried for footbridges between Adenta and Madina and government has gone to squeeze money to put the footbridges for use and you say it’s too long? How come you sit on motor bikes without helmet? How can be speeding 180km/h on our high ways?” We have a problem he said.
According to him the number of road accident and deaths recorded between January and November 2019, have exceeded the estimated figure.
“We were looking at something around a thousand six hundred and seventy-four by the end of 2019. But as said, provisional figures already show two thousand and eighty-three from January to November. At the end of Christmas this year and New Year the actual figures would come. This is just the provisional figures. And then we would see whether we met the target or not”.
He also indicated that with the new mandate vested in the National Road Safety Authority, institutions responsible to ensure safety on the roads would be regulated to make sure standards are maintained on the roads.
Calls for Road Safety in Accra
Efforts by groups and institutions to prevent road accidents especially as we enter the Christmas season is on the rise as measures are being put in place to ensure an accident-free festive season.
Last month, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly lunched the ‘AMA Road Safety Mass Media Campaign’ to ensure an accident-free Christmas.
As part of the campaign, the Assembly would embark on a mass media campaign and an enforcement drive on speeding in the coming weeks to help reduce speeding above the posted limit in Accra.