Kwame Koduah Atuahene, Esq
The
NRSC will recognize Wednesday November 20, 2013 as the National Public
Transport Day, to raise awareness of road traffic crashes (RTC) as a
development issue responsible for an average of 2000 death annually. RTC’s kill
far more persons than violent crimes in Ghana.
The National Road Safety Commission
(NRSC) has since the year 2009 recognized the third Wednesday in the month of
November as the National Public Transport Day with a call on public officials,
politicians, policy makers, civil society actors and the media to patronize the
public transport service in order to appreciate the need to help increase
advocacy for reforms and quality of service within the sub-sector.
Nearly ninety (90) percent of our
national public transport service needs are provided by private operators
characterized by low road safety profile, semi-trained drivers and poor state
of vehicles owing to low priority for vehicle maintenance among others. This
situation contributes to our national road traffic fatality challenges as
nearly 23% of road traffic crashes victims are passengers or patrons of our
public transport service buses.
“This year we focus on the driver. Our
drivers have skill but also need knowledge to improve their conduct in the road
environment. There is an urgent need to prioritize capacity building of our
drivers and their welfare. At the end of the day the driver like the top
executive is manager of a very important resource in the organization and his
needs must be prioritized” says Ing. Mrs. May Obiri-Yeboah,
Executive Director of the National Road Safety Commission.
Provisional traffic crash data available
to the Commission show that between January and September this year, 10,558
crashes have been reported resulting in 1,538 deaths and 9,741 injuries representing a reduction of reported crash
cases, persons killed and injured by 3%, 10% and 7% respectively over the same
period last year.
It
remains our expectation as we approach the challenging season of Christmas and
the New Year that, the media will increase and sustain the discussion of these
matters in order that we arrive in 2014 alive.
Road
Safety, my responsibility.
PRESS
RELEASE
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