General News of Wednesday, 5 November 2003

Source: GNA

Passengers must report dangerous drivers.

Accra, Nov. 5 GNA - Chief Superintendent of Police, Mr Victor Tandoh, Commanding Officer of the Motor Transport and Traffic Unit (MTTU) on Wednesday urged passengers to report drivers, who drive carelessly on the roads to the Police to take the necessary action against them.

"If we want to avoid accidents on our roads then drivers must change their attitude to ensure discipline and failure to do that puts the lives of pedestrians, motorists and passengers at stake," he said, adding that indiscipline of some drivers had led to fatal accidents on the roads.

Mr Tandoh said this at a driver-education campaign organised for the various transport unions operating at the Neoplan Station in Accra. The campaign organized by the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) was aimed at educating drivers on the various road offences and the need to reduce accidents in the country.

Mr Tandoh said the major causes of road accidents in the country were speeding and wrongful overtaking by motorists.

He said out of 855 vehicles, which were arrested this year for various road offences in the Greater Accra Region, 586 were private cars and 265 were commercial vehicles.

Mr Tandoh also noted that the number of female road offenders in the Region was increasing steadily.

Mrs Sarah Ntim, a Representative from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), said the Government was able to generate more revenue in the first quarter this year than the whole of last year through the new income tax stickers.

She advised the drivers to buy the tax stickers only from the IRS offices in the country to avoid arrest.

An official from the NRSC took the drivers through various road signs and introduced them to breathalyser test used by the Police to determine whether a driver was under the influence of alcohol.