Editorial

Let’s enforce Speed Limiters on all Commercial Vehicles!

The Minister of Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, has ordered the installation of speed limiters on all commercial and goods carrying vehicles as part of measures to reduce the increasing spate of road crashes in the country.

According to the minister, all commercial and goods carrying vehicles with a gross weight of 3.5 tonnes must be fitted with speed limiters.

Drawing his authority from Regulation 135 of L.I. 2180 (Road Traffic Regulation, 2012), Mr Asiamah said, all such vehicles are mandated by law to have speed limiters.

Speaking at a meeting with road transport operators in Accra last week, he explained that the ministry would today issue directives on the installation of the speed limiters.

The meeting, which was held following two major road carnages on the Techiman-Kintampo and Winneba-Cape Coast highways last week which claimed more than 80 lives as well as injured several others, was to engage the operators in a discussion to address the rise in road crashes in the country.

The ministry explained that fitting of the speed limiters, in addition to checks to be mounted by law enforcement agencies would minimise the frequent accidents on the roads.

The Ghanaian Times considers this as an important intervention.

Although the intervention adds up to numerous steps taken in the past to prevent such road crashes, we believe that the speed limiters would actually help to reduce as well as prevent accidents with very high casualties.

 In the short term,  this is going  to serve  as a useful preventive measure whilst  efforts  are made  to institute long term  measures  to reduce fatal accidents  that record high death rates.

While we agree that fatal road accidents cannot be completely prevented, we believe that one of the long term measures would be the dualisation of the country’s major high ways across the country, for such long journeys by commercial vehicles.

It is important that as the country rolls out on the measures, drivers, particularly commercial drivers, also adhere to road regulations in order to prevent road accidents.

 There is the widely held view that commercial drivers are indisciplined on the roads and majority of road accidents are caused by them.

 We, therefore, hope that the measures being undertaken by the transport ministry would strictly be enforced and drivers would adhere to road regulations.

The road accident statistics for this year alone is scary and taking into consideration the 80 that died in one day, it would be irresponsible for the country not to take measures to stop the carnage.

We call on all Ghanaians, both pedestrians and drivers to support the ministry and not to do anything to undermine the measures being instituted to prevent road carnage.

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