The Motor Traffic and Transport Department, MTTD, of the Ghana Police Service, has cautioned motorists and pedestrians to desist from defying road traffic regulations during the Christmas season to avert road crashes.
According to the Department, it is keen on reducing the number of car crashes during the yuletide by addressing the conduct of drivers on Ghana’s roads especially as statistics prove that up to 90% of road crashes are caused by driver behaviour.
Speaking to Citi News, Director of Operations at the Motor Traffic and Transport Department, Superintendent Dr. Samuel Sasu Mensah, said it has so far deployed a team from the MTTD and the National Road Safety Authority to major roads to educate pedestrians and motorists on road traffic regulations all in the bid to keep road crashes on the low.
“We are trying to make sure that drivers who ply our roads abide by road traffic rules and regulations. Now it is not just about arrest, we are combining education and awareness creation together with enforcement of the rules and regulations.”
“We also have our speed team checking speeding. 80 to 90% of road traffic accidents in our country are traceable to our actions so drivers of vehicles at this point in time should all abide by road traffic rules and regulation. If they do this, the road traffic crashes that we are having, this year we would have it on a down side,” he advised.
The National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) has consistently cautioned drivers and other road users to strictly adhere to road traffic regulations to prevent the crashes that are associated with the festive season.
Available data shows that yuletide portends a higher risk of road crashes.
Already, road crashes data for the year 2021 doesn’t look good.
Provisional data compiled by the Motor Traffic and Transport Department of the Ghana Police Service has revealed that the number of commuters killed in road traffic crashes, from January to September 2021, rose by 16.37 percent, compared to the same period last year.
It increased from 1,827 between January and September 2020, to 2,126 in the first nine months of this year.
