Suhum, (E/R) Oct.22, GNA- The Eastern Regional Commander of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU), Superintendent Kwame Nti, has reminded drivers that the new Road Traffic Act mandated every driver to put on seat belt.

He said it was therefore, a punishable offence if any driver violated the law, whiles on the road and warned that his outfit in the region would embark on a regional exercise to clamp down on recalcitrant drivers.

Speaking at a Road Safety Education seminar for drivers within the Kyebi Division at Suhum on Friday, he noted with regret that the police, in conjunction with the Road safety Commission, had put in a lot of efforts in driver education yet accidents occur.

He pointed out that the fact that 90 per cent of road accidents were due to human errors called for more stringent measures from the police to clamp down on those drivers who defied the Act. Supt. Nti said records showed that most of the accidents that occurred involved old drivers who, he said, were expected to have used their experience in the profession and wondered why it was so. The Kyebi Divisional MTTU Commander, ASP Shaibu Osei, noted that most drivers in the area used driving licences meant for private cars to drive commercial cars and warned such drivers to desist from that or face prosecution when arrested.

He explained that the consequences of using such licences for commercial vehicle was that passengers on that vehicle did not qualify for any insurance benefit in case there was any accident and stressed that the Unit would not allow passengers' welfare to be toyed with. A member of the Road Safety Committee, Mr Isaac Nkrumah noted that most accidents on the road could have been prevented if drivers had shown discipline on the road.

He said wrong overtaking, over speeding and ignoring of road signs constituted 60 per cent of all road accidents in the country and called on drivers to exercise patience in the cause of their duties. The Suhum Union Chairman of the GPRTU, Nana Kwaaku, called on drivers to always appear neat and well-groomed for work because no law enjoined drivers to dress shabbily to work.

He appealed to the MTTU to help check the "floating drivers" whom, he accused as the worst offenders of the traffic regulations but because they belonged to no union, they could not be checked or identified. Nana Kwaaku thanked the organizers for the programe and called for more of them at all lorry stations.