Mr. Mohammed Abdul-Samad, Upper West Regional Manager of the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) has advised parents not to allow their children below 18 years of age to ride motor cycles no matter the circumstance.

He said children below 18 years lacked the capacity to take major decisions on the road to prevent crash situations, hence, the need for parents to do all they could to prevent their children below the age from riding.

Mr. Abdul-Samad, who spoke at a stakeholders and the Regional Road Safety Committee Members meeting in Wa, said it was common to find minors riding motor cycles in town and sometimes without crash helmets.

He said the number of reported crashes had decreased from 235 in 2013 to 172 in 2014.

The number of deaths recorded during the period also decreased from 75 in 2013 to 54 in 2014 and persons injured decreased from 308 to 232 respectively.

He attributed the decrease to the collective efforts of stakeholders and committee members to support of the Commission’s activities and urged drivers and riders to be alert all the time and lookout for pedestrians especially children to avoid accidents.

Mr. Abdul-Samad appealed to both stakeholders and committee members especially the media to learn the road safety terminologies in order to use them appropriately to avoid misinforming the public.

On the activities for the year, he said the Commission planned to strengthen its collaboration with stakeholders, conduct outreach activities, strengthen the road safety committee in the Municipality and collaborate with the road agencies to remove unauthorized speed ramps and replace them with approved ones.

It would also extend its road safety education campaigns to the elementary schools and tertiary institutions and also liaise with the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) to help form road safety clubs in junior and senior high schools to educate the children on road safety signs.

Mr. Abdul-Samad stressed on the use of reflective tapes on tricycles to enhance visibility at night to prevent needless accidents.

He appealed to the committee members to become worthy road safety ambassadors for the Commission.

Participants at the meeting observed that more accidents were often recorded during election years and appealed to the Commission to take note of the situation and try to come up with measures to curb them.

Other concerns the participants raised included the use of tricycles to over load people putting their lives at risk and also the dangerous practice whereby people pick about four school children on one motor bike.