Political interference affecting road safety campaign – NRSC

Interference from political actors and other opinion leaders has been identified as a major setback to road safety campaign in the country.

At a mid-year review ongoing in Kumasi, regional managers of the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), said political heads and religious leaders often call police officers to demand release of road traffic offenders.

The participants, therefore, appealed to the public, particularly opinion leaders to cooperate with the NRSC to prevent accidents.

They also expressed worry about the use of motorcycles for commercial purposes and use of tricycles popularly called “motor king” by juveniles in the Upper East, Upper West and Northern regions.

Professor Stephen Adei, Former Rector of Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) asked the police and the NRSC to be “bold” and enforce the law.

He commended the NRSC for its “openness” and regular review of its work.

Prof. Adei appealed to staff of the Commission to work hard to reduce road crashes by 50 per cent by December this year.

Mrs May Obiri-Yeboah, Executive Director of the Commission, said the NRSC was educating the public on road traffic regulation as a prelude to the banning of substandard tyres.

She said though the Commission has reduced road crashes in the country by 4.6 per cent for the first half of the year, it was poised to do more.

The mid-year review is on the theme: “Scaling up towards the attainment of 2011-2013 Action Plans, Objectives, No Excuse!”

Source: GNA