A pass in mathematics at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) level should be part of the requirements for acquisition of driver’s license, Kofi Akpaloo, founder and leader of the Liberal Party Ghana, (LPG) has suggested.
Mr Akpaloo also called on the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Authority (DVLA) to ensure that the necessary policy initiatives are rolled out.
“Driving involves mathematics and failure in calculations on the road has contributed to the rising number of accidents on our roads.
“Driving is mathematics, you should be able to know that, if I drive at 50km per hour, I will be at this place, if you don’t have that knowledge how will you be able to calculate the distance between the vehicle in front of you and anticipate sudden breaking?” he asked.
Mr Akpaloo was speaking at the Ghana News Agency Motor Transport and Traffic Department (MTTD) Road Safety Campaign platform which seeks to use prominent persons to provide continuous education on the need to be safe on the roads and reduce road carnage.
The project seeks to also create consistent and systematic weekly awareness advocacy on the need to be cautious on the road as a user, educate all road users of their respective responsibilities, and sensitise drivers, especially of the tenets of road safety regulations, rules, and laws.
Mr Akpaloo, who was Election 2020 LPG Presidential Candidate, said it was worrying to see how some drivers illegally overtake in curves and other unauthorised places.
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He cautioned road safety regulators to organise sensitisation programmes for commercial drivers to be abreast with road safety regulations as it was key in curtailing the carnage on the roads.
Mr Akpaloo said illegal acquisition of driver’s license was one of the major problems which contributed to the increase in road crashes in the country.
He said a driver, who is required to have gone through a period of training from a certified driving school, rather prefers the short-cut learning from others.
He said “if drivers were trained properly, they could contribute more positively to the reduction of road traffic accidents and their related consequences on the country.”
Mr Akpaloo urged the DVLA to redirect drivers who seek to acquire licenses to be registered in driving schools for training to acquire the requisite training to reduce accidents in the country.
Francis Ameyibor, Tema Regional Manager of the Ghana News Agency, appealed to the media to upscale public education on road safety, stressing that, “road safety is a shared responsibility, we must not leave anyone behind.”
He commended the MTTD Tema Regional Command for the effort to team-up with the Ghana News Agency Office to embark on the weekly public education campaign to make the roads safe for all.
Mr Ameyibor urged drivers to be responsible on the road and protect pedestrians by stopping for them to cross while cautioning pedestrians to only cross the roads at designated places.