NRSC urges Police to use ICT to check speeding

By Godwill Arthur-Mensah, GNA

Accra, May 8, GNA - The National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) Monday marked the West Africa Road Safety Organisation (WARSO) Day with a call on the law enforcement agencies to adopt information and communication technology and use of speed cameras to check speeding on the road.

Mrs May Obiri-Yeboah, Executive Director of the NRSC, addressing the media in Accra, said 60 percent of all road fatalities were as a result of senseless speeding on the road and, therefore, called for collective efforts by all stakeholders to curb the menace.

She urged motorists to comply with the road safety rules and regulations in order to save precious lives and property.

She advised pedestrians to use footbridges constructed on strategic locations and walk along the roads while facing oncoming traffic to avoid pedestrian knockdowns.

Mrs Obiri-Yeboah cautioned Ghanaians to avoid misusing Lollipop Stands intended to assist the public to cross the roads safely and thus, cited instances where some of them had been filled with rubbish while others had been broken down.

Explaining the importance of WARSO and activities earmarked for the Day, Mrs Obiri-Yeboah said the Day was established on 8th May, 2008 under the auspices of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to promote and reinforce road safety activities and practices in West Africa through effective management of road safety and traffic matters with the view to drastically reduce road traffic crashes.

In view of this, she said, May 8 of every year had been set aside by WARSO to be observed by member countries to celebrate the anniversary and inauguration of the Association.

According to her, the Commission decided to peg the celebration to the United Nations Global Road Safety Week, being driven on the slogan “Save Lives: # Slow Down” to increase understanding of the dangers of speed and generate action on measures to address speed and save lives.

Mr David Osafo Adonteng, the Director of Planning and Programming, NRSC, said the UN Global Road Safety Week comes off from the 8th -14th May, 2017, therefore, Ghana being part of the UN and an implementing country of the UN Decade of Action, would also be observing the week with intensive education on road safety and the need to avoid speeding.

He said road safety was a shared and collective responsibility and urged all stakeholders to put their resources together to fight speeding.

The NRSC has selected the Accra-Winneba-Mankessim-Cape Coast Road for intensive road safety education campaign and traffic enforcement during the period.

GNA

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