New Road Safety Company to reduce road accidents
A new company, Road Safety Management Services Ltd (RSMSL), has been created to deal with the high incidence of road crashes and accidents on Ghana’s roads as a result of broken down vehicles left in the middle of the road.
RSMSL will provide a broad array of road safety services to the country on a build-operate-and transfer basis under a public-private partnership scheme, whereby the company will finance the supply, installation and maintenance of a network of traffic cameras to check excessive speeding and reckless driving.
It will also finance the operation and maintenance of vehicle recovery and towing services on the roads, to ensure rapid removal and recovery of accident/broken-down vehicles on the roads.
This was disclosed at a two-day training workshop for commanders of the Motor Traffic & Traffic Unit (MTTU) in Accra over the weekend on the theme, ‘Curbing the Carnage on Ghana’s roads through efficient and effective towing services.’
The training was organised by the Road Safety Management Services Ltd in conjunction with the Ghana Police Service under the auspices of the Ministry of Transport and attended by major stakeholders within the road transport sector, including a representative for the Deputy Minister of Transport, Hon. Dzifa Attivor, the Inspector-General of Police, Paul Quaye, the Director for Vehicle Inspection & Registration (DVLA), Mr. George Ackom and Justice Joseph Bawah Akamba, Justice for the Court of Appeal.
It was also disclosed that the company is currently taking delivery of a wide range of sophisticated equipments and machinery in its promotion of road safety, including CCTV Systems, Surveillance systems, Breath Analyzers, Mobile Traffic Law Enforcement Vehicles, Variable Message Display Systems, Wireless and Fiber-optic-based CCTV monitoring systems among many others.
RSMSL is also in the process of constructing a full service vehicle parking lot that will accommodate towed, disabled and accident vehicles as well as the financing of the acquisition of twenty state-of-the-art ambulances to ensure the provision of consistent and reliable ambulance services at vantage points on major roads in Ghana.
Meanwhile, the Road Safety Management Services, a wholly-Ghanaian-owned company, which intends to provide an around-the-clock surveillance system, is expected to create a staggering six thousand jobs in the management of road safety, the ambulance services, towing services and surveillance systems.
According to a statement announcing the new company, its creation is informed by rampant road crashes on the roads, with available statistics showing that six people die daily through road accidents, while 1,800 perish in a year through road accidents in Ghana, with twenty three percent of the victims being occupants of commercial vehicles.
Statistics also indicate that many of the accidents are caused by the presence of broken-down vehicles on the roads.
Addressing the workshop participants, the IGP, Mr. Paul Quaye stressed that the major challenge facing the MTTU is the unavailability of proper towing services in the country and expressed his excitement at the creation of the Road Safety Management Services Ltd, (RSMSL), which is coming into business with technological expertise and resources in towing services that will help reduce deaths, create jobs and accelerate the economic development in the country.
He pledged the support of the Police Service to RSMSL in ensuring that the carnage on Ghana’s roads, especially during the coming yuletide, is reduced to its barest minimum.
On her part, Hon. Dzifa Attivor emphasised that an efficient and effective transport system is critical in promoting economic development. and congratulated the management of RSMSL in their attempt to reduce road accidents through the removal of broken- down vehicles from the roads.
Justice Akamba gave an overview of the Road Traffic Act and Regulations, while Mr. Ackom, a Director of DVLA identified and addressed challenges in efficient drivers and vehicle licensing management.
By Edmund Smith-Asante