Police to Enforce Ban On Drinking Bars At Lorry Stations

By Benedicta Gyimaah Folley

The Ghana Police Service (GPS) is to enforce a ban on the operations of drinking bars in and around lorry stations in the country, the Director General of the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) Commissioner of Police (COP) Christian Tetteh Yohuno has said.

The move is to prevent drunk-driving which often results in road accidents.

"With support from the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) and the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), the service will also check for defunct tyres and wrecked cars at various lorry stations before their daily routine." he added.

COP Yohuno disclosed this at the opening ceremony of a training programme for 100 accident investigators and prosecutors at the Central MTTD, Accra.

The 10-day exercise formed part of efforts to address the high spate of road accidents, leading to deaths as well as build the capacity of participants on how to handle accident investigation and prosecution.

COP Yohuno said it was not only timely but appropriate to train all accident investigators as the year comes to a close, adding that road accidents in recent times had become a major bottleneck in the quest to ensure road safety.

Giving statistics, he said the Greater Accra Region at the end of the third quarter in 2018 recorded 4,125 road crashes resulting in 240 deaths and 1,775 injuries.

"It is for this reason which makes travelling in Accra very scary that the Regional MMTD is very delighted for the organisation of this training course," he said.

COP Yohuno noted that road safety was a shared responsibility and appealed to the public to support the police to make road safe.

He advised passengers to refrain from disrupting drivers when they are driving and asked vehicle owners to ensure regular maintenance of their vehicles.

COP Yohuno said the increasing road crashes recorded since last week was not only worrisome but seemed to draw back the wheel of success being chalked up by the MTTD.

To address the menace aside the ban, he said training programme would be organised for drivers nationwide on road and traffic regulations and the safety measures to reduce road crashes.

In his welcome address, the Commanding Officer of the Central MTTD, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Anderson Fosu-Ackaah advised participants to take the course seriously in order to go back and make an impact.

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