The Bono Regional Minister, Justina Owusu Banahene has advised drivers to be extremely patient on the roads so as to reduce road accidents to the nearest minimum, throughout the Christmas festivities and beyond.
She was speaking at the official launch of the 2021 Road Safety Campaign at the main lorry park in Berekum, in the Bono Region.
The programme, which was organised by the Bono Regional office of the National Road Safety Authority, brought together all the stakeholders in the transport industry on the theme: ‘Stay Alive’.
The minister observed that Ghana is among the first five countries, world over, with the highest motor accident rate. A situation, she noted, calls for urgent attention.
She, therefore, entreated drivers to “uphold the word patience as the keyword anytime they sit behind the steering wheel.
“A defensive driver is a driver indeed. He or she is the kind who is able to save situations in the event of a colleague driver or any other road user committing a mistake whiles on the road”, the minister said.
She called on drivers to shun drunkenness, hard drugs, fatigue, over speeding, non compliance of road signs and regulations, overloading, non-maintenance of vehicles and the use of inferior spare parts, because they all contribute to road crashes.
“I wish to urge all drivers to regularly revise their notes, maintain their vehicles and religiously abide by all traffic regulations to help reduce the carnage on our roads”, she said.
Madam Owusu Banahene further admonished other road users to conduct themselves properly on highways and streets so that “together we fight the ‘monster’ called accident and drive it away from our roads”.
She urged the people to stop blaming the devil for the carnage on our roads and accept the fact that over ninety percent of road accidents are human induced.
The heads of other stakeholder institutions such as; Ghana Police Service, GPRTU, PROTOA, DVLA and NRSA took turns to address the audience.
There was also an open forum during which questions from individuals received answers from the technical people.
The program was chaired by Nana Owusu Kwabena Diawuo, Chief of Kato, who represented DaasebreAmankonaDiawuo, Omanhene of Berekum Traditional Area.
In another development, a retired American soldier has crashed his vehicle into a Pragyia tricycle and killed one passenger in the Berekum East Municipality in the Bono Region.
According to the eyewitness, the driver of the DV2917 saloon car crashed into the Pragyia tricycle, which had parked for a passenger to alight on the Kato-Berekum road on Saturday 18th December, 2021 around 7:00pm.
The body of the deceased identified only as Setho lost has since been deposited at the mortuary at the Berekum Holy Family Hospital.
Two other passengers who sustained serious injuries were sent to the Accident and Emergency Center at the same hospital for treatment.
Meanwhile the Berekum Police Command has commenced investigation into the cause of the accident.
