Evans Opoku-Bobie, the Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister has expressed worry that many Police personnel in the country are not well-informed about the Road Traffic Regulation Act.
He has therefore directed the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) to organise periodic trainings on the Regulation 2012, LI 2180 (2012) for particularly, personnel of the Police Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD).
This would empower them to be more proactive and responsible in the course of their duties and bring sanity on the roads as Christmas approaches.
Mr. Opoku-Bobie expressed the concern when the staff of the Brong-Ahafo Regional Office of the NRSC paid a courtesy call on him on Wednesday in Sunyani.
Led by Mr. Kwasi Agyenim Boateng, the Brong-Ahafo Regional Head of the NRSC, the staff were there to interact with the Minister and update him on the road safety situation in the region.
Mr. Opoku-Bobie commended the NRSC for its activities in the region, but added that the Commission needed to intensify road safety education to reduce crashes and fatalities on the road.
He emphasised that the MTTD was a major player in that sense, so its personnel must be well-abreast with the Road Traffic Regulation Act to guide them to discharge their responsibilities efficiently.
Mr. Opoku-Bobie said until commercial drivers and police personnel in particular understood and regarded themselves as collaborators working to promote sanity on the road; it would be difficult for the country to minimise crashes and fatalities.
The Regional Minister said another emerging issue that needed to be addressed was the activities of the tricycle riders, saying that the use of tricycle as a public transport had come to stay due to its economic importance, particularly in rural areas, and advised the Commission to push for its regularisation.
He also called on the Commission to extend its road safety education to benefit the tricycle riders and operators so that they would also be abreast with and adhere to road traffic regulations.
Mr. Boateng said the region had recorded 209 deaths through road crashes, and added that human errors such as over speeding and wrongful overtaking remained the leading cause of road crashes in the region.
He said the Commission had intensified road safety education in the region, and assured the Minister that with support from other partners, the Commission would do more to help minimise accidents before, during and after the Christmas festivities.
Mr. Boateng expressed repulsion that traders and hawkers had taking over walkways in the regional capital and some commercial towns in the region, and appealed to the Minister to intervene for the Assemblies to embark on decongestion exercise to drive them back.
He said because of the activities of the hawkers and traders, pedestrian knockdowns were rampant, indicating that 75 people in the region had died through that (pedestrian knockdowns).
Mr. Boateng expressed appreciation to the media, the MTTD and the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Authority for commitment and support towards road safety education and called on the transport unions and insurance companies too to support the Commission.