Government must give commercial vehicles a deadline to secure emergency exits

General News of Saturday, March 30, 2019

Source: ghananewsagency.org

2019-03-30

The government, through the Ministry of Transport, has announced that it will give commercial vehicle operators time to secure the emergency doors of vehicles to allow pbadengers to get out safely in case d & # 39; emergency.

Mr. Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, Minister of Transport, explained that the recent accident on the Kintampo-Techiman road had caused many casualties as a result of the fire, due to the lack of emergency doors to The pbadengers.

The Ministry, he said, was therefore working with the Ghana Police Service's Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) to strictly enforce the directive until all buses had acquired the doors. .

"In the coming weeks, vehicles without emergency exit doors will stop flowing on the roads," he said.

Asiamah made the remark at a stakeholder meeting in Accra organized by the ministry, in partnership with the National Road Safety Commission and the MTTD, to discuss the various commercial vehicle driver badociations. to take to fight against road accidents.

The ministry donated 10 alcohol detection meters, 10 speed detection guns and 2,000 reflective jackets to the MTTD to reinforce its traffic control functions and reduce traffic accidents.

Mr Asiamah said the statistics had shown that 80% of road accidents were due to the undisciplined road users, such as drivers and pedestrians, adding that research had shown that the better the roads, the more they were built.

Statistics also showed that 98 road accidents occurred due to men, some of whom were drunk driving, killing the country's human resources between 15 and 35 years, about 70% of the total number of road accidents. victims.

"Commercial vehicle drivers know every food seal. So they calculate the time they can reach, consume akpeteshie or other alcoholic drinks perceived as appetizers, and then press the accelerator just to get to their destination sooner. end up killing innocent pbadengers, "he said.

He said that any commercial vehicle weighing 3.5 tons had to have a fixed speed limiter in order to reduce its speed capability. As a result, the department, working with the Licensing and Driver Authority, ensured that the drivers acquired the device.

"Those who do not meet this requirement will be fined and if they still do not, they will be banned from driving," he said.

The minister advised commercial vehicle operators to register their drivers for a six-month training course to familiarize them with the usage guidelines.

Mr. Asiamah said that drivers who did not take the course would be confiscated their licenses and penalize their parent organizations.

In an effort to reduce excessive speed, Asiamah revealed that fast-moving guns on roads would help the police monitor speed and that speeding would be charged and punished.

The alcohol counters, he said, will help to detect if a driver has been drinking alcohol while driving.

The Minister advised long-distance drivers to park their vehicles and to rest for 30 minutes every four hours of driving to prevent road accidents due to fatigue.

Mr. Yaw Amponsah Marfo, Director of VIP Jeoun Transport Company Limited, congratulated the government for its efforts to reduce the threat.

"Three years ago, a private entity sued us for the non-availability of emergency doors on our vehicles, and then we made sure that all our buses were equipped with emergency doors before they were transported to the country", did he declare.

He stated that the VIP transports had red color as the original registration color and that, therefore, he advised other commercial vehicles to register in different colors because all Red vehicles involved in accidents were perceived to be theirs.