THE MOTOR Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service, in conjunction with the Ghana National Road Safety Authority (GNRSA), has organized a two-day capacity-building seminar to equip traffic enforcement officers in the country.
The seminar formed part of the ‘Arrive Alive Road Safety Campaign’ launched recently to reduce traffic road crashes.
The campaign was launched after the major fatal accident that occurred on the Cape Coast-Takoradi highway on January 14, 2020, which killed 35 passengers.
The two-day event saw all the MTTD commanders from the 16 regions of Ghana meeting in Kumasi on Monday, August 17, 2020 to be educated on the objectives and modus operandi of the campaign.
Engineer May Obiri-Yeboah, Director-General of the GNRSA, commended personnel of the MTTD for their various roles played in reducing road carnage.
She said as part of efforts to promote road safety awareness in Ghana, the NRSA is partnering the media to run the ‘Arrive Alive Road Safety Campaign’.
The NRSA, she reiterated, was charged with the mandate to develop, promote, coordinate and regulate all road safety activities within the country.
The NRSA Director General revealed that the first half of 2020 saw the Ashanti Region recording 224 deaths and 1,728 injuries through road accidents, adding that was the highest for the period and all must gather resources and strength to reverse the trend.
“Road traffic casualties remain a public health problem at all levels, and while steps have been taken over the years to improve the road safety situation, much still needs to be done if the rising trend in road traffic deaths is to be halted or reversed,” she stressed.
Engineer Obiri-Yeboah described motorcyclists as the category of road users that have seen a major increment in road traffic crashes.
She also commended the officers for their efforts towards the prevention of the spread of the novel Covid-19 pandemic and urged them to continue to enforce the use of the face masks, especially those in public vehicles.
For her part, Beatrice Vib-Sanziri, the Director General of MTTD, expressed optimism that the workshop would strengthen the professional development of the officers of the MTTD who are on the frontline with much needed enforcement strategies.
Besides, she expressed the hope that the seminar would produce more professional and civil-oriented traffic enforcement officers who would work effectively to discharge their mandate without fear or favour, especially during the period of Covid-19 pandemic.
“Even though your core mandate is to protect life and properties, enforce and maintain law and order, the public will always monitor your actions and inaction while you enforce these traffic regulations,” she cautioned the officers.
FROM David Afum, Kumasi