Metro Mass named 2013 Best Transport Operator
Metro Mass Transit Limited had been adjudged the Best Transport Operator for the year 2013 by the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC).
For its prize, the company received a breathalyzer, which is used to check the alcohol content in a driver, tyre compressors, tyre pressure and thread gauges, warning triangles, training sessions for drivers, reflective jackets and others all valued at GHC20,000.00.
The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) and the Intercity STC were also declared 2nd and 3rd runner-up respectively and received GHC15, 000.00 and GHC10,000.00.
These transport organisations were declared winners on Thursday during the 4th National Road Safety Awards organised by the NRSC to award transport operators, who excelled in 2013.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Enoch Teye Mensah, MP for Ningo/Prampram, reiterated the government’s commitment towards the attainment of the National Road Safety Strategy 111, which is aimed at reducing road traffic deaths and injuries by 50 percent by 2020.
He said every year road accidents accounted for an average of 2,000 deaths, which was far more than deaths by HIV and violent crime put together and pledged government’s readiness to improve road infrastructure and increase knowledge of the road user on best road safety practices.
“In this regard, Government considers transport operators and unions as a critical stakeholder in ensuring that traffic policies, laws and regulations are obeyed”.
“This can be achieved through the introduction of internal control systems in your organisations that will get rid of several of the attitudes that contribute in no small measure to road fatalities”, he said.
Mr Mensah urged transport operators not to be interested in profits alone, but also to ensure that they employed competent drivers and offer good services to passengers.
Mrs May Obiri-Yeboah, Executive Director, NRSC, said the Awards were instituted to celebrate commercial transport operators who in the course of the year improved on their road safety operations to ensure passenger safety.
She said an evaluation conducted by the NRSC on the Awards indicated that 73.3 percent of the transport organisations are in favour of the awards scheme hence the readiness of NRSC to continue with it.
“The transport organisations are also of the view that the general motoring public be given the opportunity to also determine which transport organisation wins the overall best transport operator award.
“I must say that these proposals are worth considering and the National Planning Committee for the Awards will consider it in subsequent programmes” she pledged.
Mrs Joyce Bawa Muntari, Deputy Minister of Transport, said between January and September, 10,558 crashes had been recorded involving 16,242 vehicles nationwide.
She said these crashes had resulted in 1,538 deaths and 9,741 injuries with the value of property lost in transit estimated at several million of cedis.
She said road transport was the most dominant mode of transport in Ghana providing transport needs for about 95 percent of the population hence the need to give it all the needed safety attention.
Mrs Muntari said the award scheme would serve as a catalyst for transport operators to improve their standards in the area of driver management, vehicle management and hard management, trip record management and others.
She appealed to all road users to be cautious and disciplined as we approach Christmas and commended the NRSC for the award scheme.
Journalists who also won awards for championing the cause of road safety were Diana Lorden Forson (GTV), Geoffrey Buta (Ghanaian Times) and Nelson Nyadror and Maxwell Suuk (Diamond FM, Tamale).
They were presented with citations and tablets.
Other award winners were Dr Alfred Okoe Vanderpiuje, Accra Mayor; Assistant Commissioner of Police Angubutoge Awuni, MTTU Head; Kofi Capito, Executive Director, Consumer Protection Agency and Mr Magnus Quarshie, a road engineer.
Source: GNA