Accra, Sept 18, GNA - The National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) on Friday said it regretted the recent accidents on the roads and expressed its condolences to the bereaved families.

A statement signed by Mr Kwame Koduah Atuahene, Information Manager of the NRSC said generally, all the accidents were avoidable as established by preliminary reports on recent road traffic crashes. It said the reports indicated common acts of indiscipline as over loading, over speeding, drunk driving and improper overtaking on the part of drivers and failure on the part of occupants of the vehicles to demand standard practices.

The statement stated that over the last fortnight the country had lost about 40 friends and breadwinners in separate incidents at Agyeikrom in the Central Region, Bole-Sawla in the Northern Region, Suhum-Asamankese in the Eastern Region and Tesano in the Greater Accra Region where 16, 14 and five respectively were killed, while several others were injured and hospitalized.

It said the Commission would continue to advocate for safe road use practices against the constraints of its mandate and push for reforms in the road transport sector.

It however stated that road safety remained a shared and collective responsibility of road users, especially passengers who would be required to assume their share of the collective responsibility by denouncing unsafe road use practices, which were often compromised at the peril of their lives. The Commission reminded transport operators to intensify pre-departure checks of vehicles within their care and the use of vehicle log books for long distance public transport vehicles as interim measures to check speeding and fatigue. It called on Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), Motor Traffic Transport Unit (MTTU), Road Agencies, National Ambulance Service and the Ghana Red Cross Society, to step up their respective focal roles within the framework of the National Road Safety Strategy II and its 2009-2010 Action Plans.

"Road safety is no accident. Road crashes are avoidable and must start with you."