"If we become an authority, we will bite" – Head of the Road Safety Commission

General News of Monday, March 25, 2019

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2019-03-25

The National Road Safety Commission wants an amendment to its law regarding indiscipline following devastating carnage on a major highway that has left at least 62 dead.

Commission Director May Obiri-Yeboah explained that all the powers she currently has are convincing as they have been created to carry out awareness raising and awareness activities on road safety.

"If we do not have teeth to bite, we will continue education," she told the host of the super show morning Joy FM Monday.

This tooth is a legal transition from a commission to an authority, which is accompanied by greater autonomy and the resulting larger budgets.

"If we were given authority status … we could make sure … we can enforce road safety standards," said Ms. Obiri-Yeboah.

For the past three years since 2016, the number of road fatalities has increased from 2,084 to 2,341, according to the Transportation and Traffic Department. The MTTD has reported an average of 2,059 deaths per road accident since 2011.

But the latest news on the Kintampo-Techiman road in the northeastern region on Friday sparked a new wave of nationalities over the careless attitudes of road users and state control authorities.

The National Road Safety Commission maintains that the maintenance of discipline on the roads is the work of the MTTD within the Ghana Police.

What the Commission does is to solicit the support and cooperation of stakeholders such as the media, the police and the DVLA.

She said the Commission had 6.5 million Cedis, the entire budget for advocacy, to work with these stakeholders.

The Commission has also recruited around 500 young people through NABCO. These trainees will be posted at toll booths, roads, markets and transportation terminals to raise awareness.

Ms May Obiri-Yeboah said that the Commission had met with some 100 journalists and editors to provide them with information on road safety and to appreciate the work, strengths and weaknesses of the Commission.

He engaged the DVLA to discuss driver training in public transport. Support the MTTD with 4,000 reflective vests, describing the gesture as "the widow's mite".

The CEO of NRSC said that the efforts of road safety regulators have resulted in fewer deaths for children, pbadengers and pedestrians. She said the tragedies had been "dramatically" recorded since 2013.

Despite interventions by institutions such as NRSC, DVLA, MTTD, she explained that improving the culture of road safety takes time. "Do not expect magic," she says.

The 2004 law on road traffic (law 683) is a law that, in the opinion of some experts, would have done the magic of the road.

It has imposed heavier sentences and heavier fines on offenders.

The problem with this law is that it no longer exists in its original form. The 2008 Law on Road Traffic (Amendment) (Law No. 761), relaxed, reduces fines by 90%.

Indeed, a driver who had a prohibitory alcohol level had paid 6,000 Cedis had he been arrested before the law was changed.

By 2019, this driver would pay 600 cedis.

The head of the executive said the NRSC was not part of the consultations for the amendment, but was part of the consultations for the drafting of the original law.

"We would never have supported the reduction of sentences," said Obiri-Yeboah after saying that the change in law could have contributed to the strong impunity on the road.

The NRSC took part in the decision to give it the status of Authority. This has been approved by the Cabinet, she revealed.

The new designation is contained in legislation drafted by the public prosecutor.

The Minister of Transport, she said, should go to Parliament and bring the bill before Parliament in what should, it seems, help reduce the tragedy of the need to lay 62 mbad graves .