Nene Sipim Narh Terkpertey II of Manya Aklomuase in the Manya Krobo Traditional Area of the Eastern Region has joined calls for drivers to take extra care on the roads during the Christmas season and beyond.

He said though various stakeholders continued to play their respective parts in awareness campaigns in highlighting the dangers of speeding and drunk driving, the onus was now on individual drivers to be cautious.

The chief observed that by being cautious, drivers could help reduce the number of accidents, adding that drivers must strictly adhere to all road safety requirements and regulations to curtail road crashes in the country before, during, and after the Christmas festivities.

His call comes as many Ghanaians commute by road ahead of the Christmas and New Year season which begins Thursday, December 24th, and January 2nd, 2021.
Many drivers have gained notoriety for drunk driving, a habit the renowned chief condemned especially during the Yuletide.

While most Ghanaians will be heading to various parts of the country for the festivities, a significant amount of the traffic will be heading towards hometowns via both relatively safer and most dangerous roads in Ghana, both of which have their fair amount of fatal road crashes.

The number of persons killed in road crashes rose from 2,076 in 2017 to 2,341 in 2018 and Nene Sipim Narh Terkpertey believes everybody must become ambassadors and advocates to ensure that the alarming rate of accidents is reduced.

The traditional leader was speaking in an interview where he urged Ghanaians, particularly drivers to ensure that we had “an accident-free Christmas and New year festivities.”

“Christmas is coming and a lot of people are going to travel. The drivers must drive cautiously to ensure that their passengers are safe. Some will be my relatives. Some will be your relatives. If we don’t advocate and help our drivers and all those who are involved in terms of transporting us safely to one destination or the other… then we will be reneging on our responsibilities.”

Statistics indicate that within the last 28 years, about 46, 284 Ghanaians have been killed in road accidents nationwide.

Peace and social vices

He also stressed the need for Ghanaians to bury their differences in the last general elections as aggrieved supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) continue to hit the streets to protest over alleged vote-rigging.

While he refrained from commenting on the substantive issue of the alleged vote-rigging, Nene Sipim called for peace and unity and urged the aggrieved party or parties to use the appropriate means to seek redress.

With many discerning Ghanaians concerned about the breakdown of morality of the youth where they engage in excessive drinking, drug abuse, indecent dressing, etc. the chief urged Ghanaians to purge themselves of all the aforementioned social vices.