All commercial vehicles to have speed limiters to help prevent road accidents – NRSC

The National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) as part of new moves to help prevent road accidents is to ensure that all commercial vehicles are fitted with speed limiters.

According to the NRSC, it intends to lead a conversation on the implementation of the Regulation on Speed limiters, which requires that all commercial vehicles must be fitted with speed limiters to help manage speeds as a major contributory factor to road traffic crashes.

At a press briefing in Accra on Sunday, the NRSC said it was also working to get to the stage where it may be able to sanction public transport service providers for lapses in their operational standards which is a culture that underlines the safety of the airline industry.

To the Executive Director of the NRSC, Mrs May Obiri Yeboah, the commission needs public support for the implementation of this and many other critical road safety interventions.

“In recent times, we [NRSC] have been at the receiving end of some resistance for the introduction of one road safety measure or the other,” she said.

On Friday, March 22, an unfortunate incident of two road traffic crashes claimed more than 60 lives and injured many on the Techiman-Kintampo highway and the Accra-Cape Coast highway.

Road traffic crashes have seen an upsurge of road deaths and injuries from the beginning of 2019.

Available statistics from the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the police indicates that from January 2019 to end of February 2019, a total of 411 persons have been killed and 2048 injured through road traffic crashes in Ghana.

A committee made up of representatives from the Interior, Transport, Roads and Highways that looked into the problem of road crashes following President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s directive identified indiscipline as the main contributory factor to the increasing incidents of traffic crashes due to disrespect for road traffic laws and regulations related to travel speeds, overtaking, driving under influence of alcohol and drugs, long driving periods, disregard for traffic regulations by motor riders including non-use of crash helmets among others.

Last week’s accidents

Touching on last week’s accidents, the Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah reiterated government’s commiserations to the victims and families affected by accidents which claimed over 60 lives.

Source: Graphic.com.gh