ACCIDENTS are unavoidable in any human institution or society. It can, however, be reduced to the barest minimum, if care and the necessary measures are put in place.
Accidents are largely caused by human errors.
It takes some patience and tenacity of purpose to stay out of accidents which continue to claim the lives of people, maim some others and cause misery to thousands of households.
The Northern Region continues to have its fair share of the calamity in the country as accident figures in the area have risen over the years.
The Northern Regional Police Command at the weekend organised a stakeholders meeting in Tamale to share ideas on the way forward in reducing the spate of accidents in the area.
The participants included the Regional Police Commander, Mr Ephraim Okoe Brakatu, and some senior police officers, executive of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) and officials of the Regional Road Safety Committee.
Among the issues identified as part of the causes of accidents in the region were speeding, illegal parking, intermittent break of the traffic lights system and drug and alcoholic abuse.
Other problems included the plying on the roads of faulty and rickety vehicles, a lack of adequate road signs and co-ordination among various stakeholders.
They also mentioned the inaction by law enforcement agencies to duly apprehend and prosecute road traffic offenders.
“Sometimes we show human face in our dealings with offenders and that could explain the reasons for the misbehaviour of some motorists,” Mr Brakatu observed.
He, therefore, entreated chiefs, opinion leaders and the leadership of the GPRTU not to intervene when recalcitrant motorists were apprehended, especially during special operations in the region.
The commander also urged the respective road safety bodies to step up their education on safe driving measures to ensure sanity on the roads to protect life and property.
“I would also like to advise both motorists and pedestrians to always respect road signs and regulations to the letter because my men would not compromise on such standards and would therefore arrest and prosecute any offender,” he stressed.
Mr Brakatu explained that the meeting was a process and that more of such deliberations would be held for other stakeholders, such as officials of the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Authority (DVLA) and insurance companies operating in the region.
The Regional Crime Officer, Mr Ebenezer Lartey, for his part, admonished drivers to always endeavour to check on passengers' goods and luggage before allowing them to embark on their vehicles, since they could contain illicit drugs or ammunitions.
He also advised them to be wary of suspected child traffickers who carried children on board their vehicles.
“In all these instances when you are arrested, you would be made to face the full rigours of the law with the suspected offenders, since ignorance of the law would not be an excuse,” the police officer cautioned.
According to statistics from the Motor Traffic and Transport Union (MTTU) in Tamale, 82 per cent of motor fatalities recorded in the region last year occurred in the metropolis.
There was also an increase in the number of accident fatalities in the region from 25 reported deaths between January and April, last year, to 33 within the same span of time this year, representing an increase of 32 per cent.
In the Tamale metropolis alone, 65 people died in 193 recorded road accidents last year, while 17 motorists have so far lost their lives in the metropolis in February, this year.
According to the figures, 104 other traffic offences were registered in the metropolis, while 46 culprits were arraigned.
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