As part of efforts to ensure safety among motor cycle riders on the roads,104 private dispatch motor riders have been trained to serve as ambassadors of road safety.
The project dubbed “Police Certified Riding Ambassadors,” the first of its kind and initiative of the Ghana Police Service, is expected to help curb the rate of crashes, injuries and deaths attributed to the use of motorcycles in the country.
The riders from Accra and Tema would also serve as a link for providing information and intelligence to the police under the ongoing Police Action against Rider Indiscipline (PAARI).
The Director General of Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD), Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Felix Fosu-Agyeman, in launching the programme said the initiative was to sensitise the riders to the need to comply with the road safety regulations.
He said the riders who were screened by the Criminal Investigation Department(CID) were taken through an orientation in the overview of the concept of their roles, programmes, ethics, customer care, road traffic regulation, defensive riding among others.
The Director General said the certified police riders would propagate the road safety messages to their fellow riders to comply with traffic regulations.
“They are to set examples of road discipline for other riders to emulate and to stop under the command of red lights and police hand signals,” he added.
DCOP Fosu-Agyeman stated that the project would be replicated in the regions to ensure safety on the roads.
The Director General of Police Public Affairs, DCOP Kwesi Ofori urged riders to respect road traffic regulations to ensure that lives and properties were saved.
They would help check riders from riding through traffic lights and on the shoulders of the road to ensure incidence free on the roads.
He said as riders, they would serve as ambassadors and role models to other riders to promote safety in the country, adding “it is national crusade and campaign to ensure we achieve our goals.”
He said riders knew every bit of the communities and would help promote safety on our roads.
DCOP Ofori, however, advised the riders to see their work as voluntary service and be committed to their duties to raise the image of the country.
The event was attended by senior police officers from the MTTD, executives of the National Courier Association Ghana and officials of the Nationwide Traffic Management Enforcement Limited among others.
BY ANITA NYARKO-YIRENKYI
