IN less than two months Ghanaians, particularly Christians, will be celebrating Christmas. As it is common knowledge, it is a festivity that sees Christians mark the birth of Jesus Christ, who came to earth to die for our sins.
THOUGH it may sound early to some for us to be seen issuing a word of caution to drivers, more especially the commercial ones who see this period as their cocoa season to make loads of money, we do not see it that way.
IN fact from now till Christmas there is the urgent need to drum home the message to our drivers to be extra-careful. They must place huge emphasis on driving with care!
WHEN such is applied we believe the high road accidents that happen prior to Christmas would completely be reduced. That will save innocent and precious lives.
TODAY becomes very worried when road accidents occur in this country. This is because such accidents would normally claim the live(s) of innocent lives who for once did not even dream of passing away through accidents.
STATISTICS on road traffic deaths and injuries in this country are startling. And though the nature of roads in this country cannot be ruled out as one of the causes, often the attitude of especially commercial drivers has been a major factor.
THESE have included unnecessary overtaking, driving faulty vehicles and most importantly not obeying traffic regulations. To begin with commercial drivers particularly must know that the lives of passengers who board their vehicles are entrusted into their hands.
THIS, therefore, makes it paramount for them to drive safely and ensure that they get the passengers to their destinations without any harm. After all this is a service that is paid for by the passenger.
IT is in the wake of the above that Today believes it is a good step that Accra has launched its first-ever Road Safety Strategy. This strategy, understandably, forms part of efforts aimed at reducing road crashes.
THERE is no doubt that road crashes remain one of the major causes of deaths and serious injuries around the world. And for the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA)) to collaborate with Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS) and SSATP African Transport Policy Programme to help prevent road crashes is indeed laudable.
WE expect that those behind this initiative would ensure that its ultimate target of reducing carnage on our roads is achieved. We are making this point because this is not the first time in this country that such a good strategy has been fashioned out to protect lives.
RATHER the issue has often been sustaining such good strategies to ensure that they achieve their desired goals and become sustainable. We hope this strategy would not become one of those strategies that are implemented to garb public attention and in the end achieve nothing.
HAVING said that, we want to use this opportunity to commend AMA, BIGRS and SSATP African Transport Policy Programme for having the foresight to come up with a strategy to save lives. It is our expectation that it would be sustained and replicated in the other regional cities all in the name of preventing road crashes in this country.
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