General News of Monday, 3 April 2017

Source: classfmonline.com

Over 2k road accidents recorded so far in 2017

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The rate at which Ghana is recording motor accidents this year is too alarming, hence necessary measures are being put in place to reduce the carnage on the roads, Roland Walker, Director of Communication at the Road Safety Management Services Limited, has said.

According to him, within the first three months alone, the country has recorded over 2000 road accidents, a frightening statistic.

To that end, he disclosed that his organisation had deployed towing trucks for the commencement of the pilot phase of the National Towing Project to be rolled out on May 1.

The National Towing Project is aimed at removing broken down vehicles from the country’s roads to prevent accidents.

The pilot programme is being rolled out by RSMSL in collaboration with the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), and the Ghana Police Service.

Speaking in an interview with Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom, on Accra100.5FM on Monday April 3, Mr Walker said: “It is alarming the rate at which the country is recording accidents. Within the first three months alone the country has recorded over 2000 accidents and we are not yet even in the Easter festivities.

“We are also yet to approach Christmas and we all know during these occasions accidents happen a lot. For this reason, we have launched the national towing project, which starts on May 1, to remove all damaged vehicles from the road.

“We have also introduced a toll free line 0800772772 to enable the general public reach us and to inform us about damaged vehicles left on the roads.”

DSP Aex Obeng, Head, Education and Research at the Motor Traffic and Transport Division (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service, also said the MTTD was embarking on vigorous education on road accidents.

He said: “We expect the Road Safety Commission and the Road Safety Management Service to support us in educating the public on how to avoid accidents. We will be visiting churches, mosques, and other areas to educate the public.

“Damaged vehicles left on the roads are causing several accidents and so we need to adopt several measures to prevent the accidents.”