Law enforcement will not be enough to prevent frequent accidents – Police

General News of Tuesday, March 26, 2019

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2019-03-26

The road transport department [MTTD] explained that the solution to recurring accidents in similar places is not the application of the law.

He added that the accidents persist despite the forces of order, but that on single-lane roads in the same places, it is often necessary to duplicate the roads concerned.

Head of Education Research and Training at the Department of Road Transport [MTTD] The Ghanaian police were referring to the accidents that occurred on Friday 1 and Friday on the N1 and N6, which claimed the lives of 62 people and several other people still being treated in hospitals.

CPA Kintampo divisional commander Joseph Antwi Gyawu told Anas Sabbit, Joy News correspondent for the eastern Bono region, that 35 of the dead could not be identified.

While expressing his "condolences to the families who lost family members" and his recovery to those still in the hospital, the police chief Alexander Kwaku Obeng pointed to a tendency to these accidents, of a nature technical: the dualisation of the main roads.

Speaking Tuesday at the Joy FM Super Morning Show, he said: "These road accidents have occurred on strategic road networks, which are the backbone of Ghana's road networks."

"The Elubo N1 at Aflao, where accidents occurred at Ekumfi between Apam and Mankessim, which is a single-carriageway road.

"And the same day, the other arrived on the N6 which leaves the circle of Kwame Nkrumah for Paga and throws on the N10 between Techiman and Kintampo, at the junction of Ampomah Krome. This is also a simple trolley.

"These are not isolated because, before these, they occurred. It's an annual affair. And they go on the same expanses and the same places. This does not happen on sections of the road, which are duplicated, but sessions that are supposed to be but have not been, "he said.

Further illustrating his position, he said that countries that had adopted a dualistic approach had not done so because they were rich. According to him, it is about saving lives and supporting economic development.

In the case of Ghana, he said that the roads in question connect not only the rest of the country with the capital of commerce and business, but also traders from neighboring countries who come to the country for commercial purposes.

Obeng also said that although the chorus has "no funding" for the road network extension, he argues for long-term planning and budgeting that should start now. According to him, not planning the situation now will mean that the problem will persist.

Since Friday's disaster, the government has announced a number of measures to prevent future events.

President Nana Akufo-Addo spoke a few hours after the incident Friday morning, sympathized with families and challenged the Police Council to regulate traffic.

The government is also spending £ 1 billion on traffic lights, road signs and degraded marking marks to improve road safety.

This is part of the recommendation made last year by the inter-ministerial committee set up by President Akufo-Addo to examine the growing number of carnage on the country's roads.

The committee also recommended that ¢ 6.5 million be allocated to the National Road Safety Commission for public education and training.

Commission Executive Director May Obiri-Yeboah told reporters Sunday that her team had begun implementing the recommendations.

"The report recommended the following:

1) Transformation of the National Road Safety Commission (NSRC) into a € 6.50 million authority and budget support for the Commission to intensify public education / awareness and training,

2) Request for approval of a proposal by the Ghana Police Service to allow the MTTD to:

(a) deploy traffic camera systems to detect and apprehend speed, red light and related traffic offenses, and

(b) Remove the vehicles that are out of service,

(3) Request of US $ 1.05 billion for road agencies, the Ghana Highway Authority, the Urban Roads Department and the Service Roads Department to eliminate the backlog of road signs, markings, traffic lights and guardrails on the national road network, "she said.

In a letter dated April 16, 2018, the Chair approved the proposed work solutions.

Well, the director of the NRSC said that an action plan was in place.

Some of these actions include the Cabinet's approval of the memorandum to transform the National Road Safety Commission into a National Highway Safety Authority and the Ghana Road Fund, releasing £ 6.50 million in full from the NRSC.