Government has appealed to road safety actors to work hard to achieve the objective of the National Road Safety Strategy III.
The Minister of Transport, Alhaji Collins Dauda, in a speech read on his behalf at a workshop to review the national road safety action plan which covers the years 2011 to 2013 said, “The time for action is now, as there would be no further excuses and government would hold all concerned bodies accountable for inactions.”
He asked Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as well as Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to act on the requirements in the strategy.
The minister made reference to the president’s foreword to the national Road Safety Strategy, which contains key activities to be undertaken to reduce road traffic deaths and injuries by 23 per cent in 2012 and 50 per cent by the year 2020 using year 2010 as the base.
Mr. Dauda said the outcome of the strategy would soon be transformed into a blue print for all road safety interventions in the country and for safety related statutory institutions.
Alhaji Dauda noted that stakeholders in the country should freely participate in the performance review exercise, criticize fairly and constructively and offer cogent suggestions on the way forward.
“We must always remember that road traffic crashes are preventable but require a concerted and determined effort from all of us,” he said.
Performance review meetings has been part of the mechanism to assess the performance of stakeholders’ outputs in the Actions Plans, identify gaps, weaknesses and challenges and collectively institute correct actions to re-align performance metrics to targets and goals within every six months.
The National Road Safety Action Plan (NRSAP) is being reviewed to ensure that accidents are reduced by 2020.
In line with the UN Decade of Action for road safety, the programme aims to make the roads safe for all categories of users.
Various key road safety stakeholders and agencies made presentations on the status of their report on the implementation of their activities specified in the 2011 to 2013 Action Plans from January to June 2012 during the meeting.
The Deputy Director of Research, Monitoring and Evaluation at the National Road Safety Commission, Rudolph Beckley, stressed the need to bring on board all interest groups to ensure safety on the roads.
He noted that 60 percent of road crashes in Ghana are caused by over speeding and called on Ghanaians to prioritize the issue.
Kwesi Abbey Sam, a civil engineer who chaired the meeting, stressed the need for a collaborative effort by monitoring contractors to adhere to safety measures.
Explaining further, he said people in the country overlook road signs and markings and make driving at night very dangerous. “There should therefore be a reasonable allocation of funds towards road safety issues.
Representatives for National Road Safety Commission, Ghana Highway Authority, Department of Urban Roads and Department of Feeder Roads, mentioned lack of finance, commitment to road safety issues and negative human attitudes as some challenges.
Source: GhanaWeb
