MTTU Commander unhappy about road crashes

Story & Pix: Benjamin Xornam Glover, Bolgatanga The Commanding Officer of the Motto Transport and Traffic Unit,(MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service, Assistant Commissioner of Police, (ACP) Mr Angwubutoge Awuni has expressed regret about the increase in road crashes and its attendant loss of life on the Bolgatanga-Tamale road and demanded that officers of the unit in the Upper East and Northern Regions take step up their performance to halt the unnecessary death and maiming of road users He said if his men and women live up to expectation and also union executives at the various transport terminals act as safety agents by upholding discipline, the rampant cases of roads accidents will be curtailed. "We have just started the new year 2013 but nationwide provisional fatality figures collated by the National MTTU as at January 25 exceeds 100 deaths. Obviously this cannot be acceptable and we should therefore intensify our enforcement activities to help reverse the negative." He said. ACP Awuni said this when he addressed transport union executives and drivers at the main Bolgatanga lorry terminal after he led a team of MTTU personnel and officers of the Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority as well as National Road Safety Commission to interact and sensitized drivers on the new road traffic legislative instrument (L.I. 2180). The sensitization programmers for drivers followed an earlier road safety seminar held for personnel of the MTTU at the Pwalugu police training School. ACP Awuni cautioned drivers to stop overloading and wrong overtaking and urged them to undertake regular maintenance of their vehicles to curtail carnage on the roads. He instructed personnel of the unit in the region not to spare drivers who flout the law on the road. "I cannot be arresting people elsewhere in the country while right here at my doorstep, we have drivers who infringe on the law but allowed to go scot free." A stern looking ACP Awuni who hails from the Upper East Region said. Deputy Superintendent of Police, (DSP), Mr Alexander K. Obeng in-charge of Education, Research and Training urged drivers to refrain from drink driving which was against rules and regulations of driving. The Deputy Director of Research, Monitoring and Evaluation of the National Road Safety Commission, Mr Rudolph Beckley reminded the drivers and their leaders that they owe it a responsibility as frontline stakeholders to ensure road safety. The Industrial Relation Officer of the Upper East Regional Branch of the GPRTU, Mr A. M. Nashiru said it was the share responsibility of the drivers, passengers and the police to ensure safety on the road and pledged that the union would do everything possible to assist MTTU to work effectively to control traffic crashes. He expressed concern about the spate of bad roads in the region and urged government to step up the rehabilitation of the roads to encourage vehicle owners put fairly new and stronger vehicles on the road to reduce the accidents. He said a good road infrastructure will also discourage the use of rickety cars and busses. End Writer's email: benjamin.glover@graphic.com.gh