POLITICAL LEADERS ATTEND ROAD SAFETY WORKSHOP (PAGE 16)

THE National Road Safety Commission, in association with the Motor-Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) in Kumasi, has organised a forum for the leaders of the various political parties in the metropolis to educate them on the need to respect road safety regulations in the run-up to the December general election.
According to the organisers, the forum was to reduce the spate of accidents in the Kumasi Metropolis and its environs before, during and after the upcoming election.
The leadership of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), the People’s National Convention (PNC), the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), together with representatives of the Electoral Commission and the National Insurance Commission, attended the ceremony.
In an address, the Ashanti Regional Co-ordinator of the Road Safety Commission, Mr Kwaku Oware-Boateng, expressed concern about the spate of accidents in the metropolis and its environs in particular, and other parts of the country during elections.
He said in the run-up to the 2000 general election, as many as 1,818 vehicles were involved in accidents in the Kumasi Metropolis and its environs alone, leading to the death of 332 people.
He said the last general election in 2004 also saw 2,036 vehicles involved in accidents, causing the death of 577 people.
Mr Oware-Boateng attributed the spate of accidents during such periods to fatigue on the part of drivers, speeding, drink driving, overloading, wrongful overtaking and lack of maintenance, among others, and stressed that human errors alone contributed to over 80 per cent of the road accidents.
He stated that in most cases, political rallies were not effectively planned during elections, and in an attempt to reach their rally grounds on time, politicians and their supporters rushed at break-neck speed on the road, risking their lives and those of other road users.
According to Mr Oware-Boateng, no matter how short a distance was, it should be planned in a more effective way and rest periods should also be observed strictly in the course of the journey, to avoid fatigue on the part of drivers.
He said it was equally important for drivers conveying politicians and their supporters to rally grounds to drive defensively by always keeping a safe distance and avoiding the use of mobile phones.
The road safety chairman also urged the drivers to be alert, especially at intersections, constantly watch their dashboards for signals of troubles and use all their senses to check possible problems to avoid accidents.
He also advised them to regularly maintain their vehicles, inflate their tyres to manufacturers’ specifications and constantly check their brake lights, headlights, indicators and wipers, and wear their seat belts, to put them in steady conditions.
Mr Oware-Boateng called on politicians to ensure that their drivers were healthy before they allowed them to drive in convoys.
The Regional MTTU Police Commander, Superintendent James Sarfo Peprah, advised them to avoid overloading supporters in pick-ups for rallies and explained that overloading had been the major cause of accidents in the region.
Recalling the accident at Akropong a few years back, which claimed the lives of 34 Catholics when their 207 Mercedes Benz crashed with an STC bus, he said because their vehicle was overloaded, none of the victim’s dependants had succeeded in securing insurance from the insurance companies.