Some Ghanaians on Tuesday expressed worry over road accidents recorded since the beginning of the year and called on government and the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) to sanction drivers who violate the law.
Madam Joyce Frimpong, a teacher in an interview with the Ghana News Agency said, the Motor Transport and Traffic Directorate of the Ghana Police Service (MTTD) should sanction drivers who make and receive telephone calls while driving as it was identified as a major cause of accidents in the country.
She said “currently road accidents have become the leading cause of death’’ the government and the NRSC should make sure drivers comply with the law in order to minimise road accident.
Mr Joseph Boakye, a contractor said, Construction and infrastructure projects should be awarded to qualified engineers in order to save lives and improve the economic growth of the country and claimed that government sometimes gives out contracts to unqualified contractors who end up not completing the projects.
Mr Boakye stressed that the Eastern corridor road had also become a major death trap, ”because those who die on that road are not public figures, no one hears of it, which is bad”.
In an interview with the GNA, Madam Grace Addo said, bad construction practices in the country resulted in high accident rates as most of the contractors do not evacuate their machinery immediately after completion of work.
This she explained that some contractors leave their machines in the middle of the road for a long period and urged road contractors to desist from heaping sand in the middle and along the edges of the roads.
Mr Isaac Baah, an engineer, stressed that there were a lot of roads that were awarded to various contractors over the past five years, but had not been done and thereby creating problems for the users. Nana Ama, a student of University of Education said, “the question I always ask is, should we wait for people to die before the contractors patch up the roads? Or should people die before politicians’ start to pay tribute to them? And urged the NRSC to come out and educate drivers on the causes of accidents.
Madam Belinda Appiah, a teacher said, “our roads are full of potholes, while others have heaped sand on the edges of the roads’’ this she said, were the major causes of accidents and appealed to drivers to be extra careful and abide by driving rules in order to save human lives.
She urged government and the Ministry of Roads and Highways to make sure all contractors go back to work.
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