Cape Coast, Jan 17, GNA- Chief Superintendent Oduro-Botchway, Central Regional Commander of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU), on Wednesday appealed to companies, organisation, agencies and individuals to provide the Cape Coast Unit with towing vehicles. This he said would enable the Unit to tow away broken down and accident vehicles on the Accra-Cape Coast highway to reduce the rate of accidents in the Central Region.

Chief Superintendent Oduro-Botchway, who made the appeal at the first stakeholders meeting of the year organized by the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) at Cape Coast, said the region was prone to motor accidents, but did not have a towing vehicle. He also appealed to the judicial service to increase the fines imposed on drivers who did not observes traffic regulations, especially speeding, overloading, wrongful overtaking, hit and run drivers as well as those who drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs.. Miss Catherine Hamilton, Central Regional Coordinator of NRSC, who outlined the objectives of the National Road Safety Strategy II, said it was its vision to reduce road traffic accidents and fatalities systematically on a yearly basis and also to achieve a total of less than 1000 accidents by the year 2015" so as to make Ghana's road transport system the safest in Africa.

Miss Hamilton her outfit intends reducing injuries and deaths involving pedestrians, especially children, as well as looking out for drivers who did not observe traffic rules and regulations. The Director of the Central Regional Ghana Highway Authority (GHA), Mr Boama Djan, said the Central Region has better roads than any other region in the country and that out of the 944 kilometres of road in the region, 65.4% were in good state, 27% fair and 9% bad.

He said his outfit has been awarded contracts for the patching of potholes, the grading of 280 kilometres of roads and the maintenance of 400 Km of roads in the Region all at a total cost of GH=A28,750.