NRSA engages political parties on road safety ahead of December polls

 The National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) has engaged with all political parties ahead of the December elections in an effort to address a surge in road accidents during election years.

Pearl Adusu Sateckla, the NRSA’s public relations officer (PRO), revealed the initiative during an interview with newsmen on Wednesday (16 October).

According to Sateckla, research indicates that road crashes tend to increase during election periods, prompting the authority to act.

“Research [has] shown that election year has come with its own problems of increase in crashes,” she said.

To combat this, the NRSA held meetings with political parties and reviewed the existing road safety code.

The parties were also urged to integrate road safety measures into their policies and manifestos.

“We made our NGO partners go into their (political parties) offices regionally and then head office to sensitise them on the impact of their recklessness on the road and the toll it has on their voting public,” Sateckla added.

As part of their commitment, political parties signed a pact pledging to prioritise road safety in their campaigns.

“We made them sign a pact and pledge to promise that they will seriously input road safety in their policies and their manifesto and even talk about it on their campaign platform,” the NRSA PRO stated.

Sateckla emphasised that the NRSA will continue to engage with parties at district, constituency, and regional levels to ensure road safety becomes a central theme in their political discourse.

“We are involving the political parties,” she said. “After the national programme, we are going down to the districts, constituencies [and] regions to still engage them so that road safety will become an integral part of their campaigns.”