Make Christmas accident free – drivers and road users urged

The Ashanti Regional Road Safety Manager Engineer Samuel Asaimah has urged drivers and road users to ensure accident-free before, during and after Christmas festivities.

Speaking on Otec FMs morning show dubbed ‘NYANSAPO’ with regular host Nana Kwabena Ampratwum, Mr A Asaimah called on drivers to be disciplined, maintain their vehicles, avoid using worn-out tyres and defective headlights, “unnecessary overtaking and speeding” and avoid fatigue to ensure safety on the roads.

Transport owners and drivers should insure their vehicles and pay their income tax promptly to enable the government to undertake more development projects including road maintenance.

According to Mr Asiamah Road Safety is a shared and collective responsibility and we all have a role to play in reducing carnages on roads adding that “precious lives are being lost on the highways through reckless and careless driving especially during Christmas festivities,”.

He advised motorists to be careful and to observe road traffic regulations especially in this harmattan season to save lives and property, stressing that “Every passenger wants to travel and get home alive but not in a morgue”.

Two hundred and ninety-two (292) people have been killed in the Ashanti region through road accidents from January to November this year.

The dead were recorded in two thousand five hundred and seventy-five (2575) accidents recorded between January and November 2017 but cases reported were two thousand and sixty- one (2061).

This represents eight (8%) increase compared to, figures recorded in the same period last year.

The region also recorded five hundred and ninety – two (592) pedestrian knockdowns with four hundred and two (402) motorbikes fatalities recorded.

He, therefore, commended Otec FM for its role in educating the public on road safety.

Mr. Asiamah however assured that strategies will be drawn up during festivities to curb the rising spate of carnage on roads in the region.

Source: otecfmghana.com/Eric Asamoah/ Protocol