BE CIRCUMSPECT ON THE ROAD AS CHRISTMAS APPROACHES (PAGE 54)

THE Mampong Divisional Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) Police Commander, ASP B. K. Gyasi, has urged motorists plying the Mampong trunk roads to be circumspect as Christmas approaches to reduce accidents on the roads.
He pointed out that in recent times, road traffic accidents had become one of the causes of death in the area, explaining that road traffic accidents did not only occur every day, but also claim the lives of people who were contributing significantly to national sustainable development.
Addressing a section of drivers at a seminar organised on road safety, Mr Gyasi said drivers had a great responsibility for ensuring the safety of their passengers by strictly adhering to road traffic regulations.
Speaking on the causes of accidents at the Mampong environs, Mr Gyasi noted that “the unruly behaviour of the driver, his mental disposition and world view of the road user, induce him to be involved in an accident, stressing that speeding, wrong overtaking, and low level of education of some motorists, which make it difficult for them to appreciate road signs, were some of the other contributory factors.
On wrong overtaking, he said many drivers failed to calculate the speed of vehicles they intended to overtake, and only realise rather too late that they had not only taken a wrong decision, but had also put the lives of the passengers on board their vehicles at great risks.
He said some drivers usually underestimated the extent of danger to which they put their passengers, especially when they continued driving even when they were very tired.
Mr Gyasi advised drivers to appreciate the value of rest when tired by having sufficient rest every day.
"You should adhere to road traffic regulations by not only avoiding wrong overtaking and overtaking at curves, but you should also not drive continuously for more than four hours without adequate rest," he advised.
He noted that if motorists were to observe basic rules and regulations on the road, “head-on collisions, borne out of wrong overtaking and their attendant fatalities, would have been a thing of the past".
He urged the National Road Safety Commission to intensify its educational campaigns by sensitising drivers to Road Traffic Regulations 1974- LI 952 and 953.
Mr Gyasi assured that the MTTU would continue to be on the roads, not only to check recalcitrant drivers, but to also arrest and prosecute those who put the lives of other road users at great risk.