The Police administration is promising to deploy more men on the country’s roads as a step to address the high incidence of accidents.
“What we have realised is that mostly the drivers, some of them are a bit reckless. Police have put in contingency plans; tried to increase highway patrols and made sure there is visibility all over town. We are doing it, Christmas is coming it is going to go beyond Christmas,” Director-General of the Police Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD), DCOP Francis Aboagye Nyarko, said at a two-day training for Police and Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority accident investigators.
The MTTD boss said the service will also enforce the two-driver regime for long distance trips.
“This system is already in place. The GPRTU, the PROTOA, they are aware of this system that those going on long journeys should have about two drivers so that when one is tired, one should take over. We’ve started, sent signals around that the two-driver regime is in place. We will make sure we enforce the two- drivers’ regime, until the two drivers’ regime is sustained,” he noted.
DCOP Nyarko added that, “we are highly concerned and we are not only concerned as MTTD. The other stakeholders involved in making sure that sanity is brought on our roads; the National Road Safety Authority, the DVLA and the police are highly concerned about it. It is a bit worrying.”
According to him, recalcitrant drivers and vehicle owners will face prosecution.
DCOP Nyarko assured that the Police will commit to deploying more men on the roads for this exercise.
This comes as the region records 28 deaths, in the last three days, in three separate accidents at Abofuor, Akomadan and Atimatim, after a similar fatal one recorded on October 3, 2021 at Ohene Nkwanta claimed 13 lives.
Two thousand, one hundred and sixty-two people have been killed between January and September through road crashes.
The Ashanti Region has recorded 467 deaths due to accidents from the beginning of January.
The Police Motor Transport and Traffic Department blames drivers for most of the accidents which they say are avoidable.
Speaking at the two-day training for Police and Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority accident investigators, the Deputy, DCOP Akwasi Akomeah-Apraku said the rate of accidents is worrying, “it is worrying to note that, the Ashanti Region has been tagged as the number one region when it comes to road traffic accidents.”
“Statistics available shows that from January 2021 to date, there have been a total of 2,734 reported accident cases. Out of this number, 467 deaths have been recorded. The situation is very alarming and needs concerted efforts to combat this trend,” he said.