The Central Regional Minister, Mrs Justina Marigold Assan, has urged stakeholders in the region to support efforts put in place to address high rate of road accidents in the region especially, on the Accra-Cape-Coast-Takoradi highway.
The Regional Coordinating Council, she explained, was concerned about the rate of road accidents and its attendant fatalities.
Mrs Assan said this at a stakeholders meeting organised by the RCC and the Regional Security Council (REGSEC) to deliberate on how the various agencies and road users would collaborate to end the carnage on the roads.
The meeting which was attended by various stakeholders discussed road safety measures and how to adopt some pragmatic steps to reducing the carnage.
Mrs Assan indicated that the region should not continue to look on without addressing the problem which sometimes happen on daily basis.
She further bemoaned the incidence of non-compliance of traffic regulations by drivers and pedestrians, saying; “There are so many things going on and we need to quickly stop it.”
On the issue of traffic congestion, the Regional Minister mentioned Mankessim, Kasoa, Buduburam and Akoti Junction as well as Awutu Bereku area noted for the problem.
The Mankessim traffic congestion, she said, was becoming a problem and if not addressed, would affect the promotion of tourism in the region.
Mrs Assan appealed to the media to support efforts being made by relevant stakeholders to reduce the rate of road accidents.
She said, some areas had been demarcated as accident prone and urged drivers plying the route to exercise caution when they were approaching such spots.
In her presentation, the Central Region Manager of the National Road Safety Authority, Ms Linda Afotey Annang, explained that 119 persons lost their lives through road accidents from January to July this year alone.
The figure, she said, was a decrease of what was recorded during the same period last year which was 145.
Other participants called for the adoption of pragmatic programmes and policies to address the challenge of road safety.
They called for the dualisation of the Accra-Cape-Coast-Takoradi highway since most of the accidents were as a result of head-on collision, explaining that, dualising the road would reduce the rate of accidents on that stretch of the road.
They also called for sustained education on road safety for all drivers and other road users as well as the enforcement of road safety regulations.
FROM DAVID YARBOI-TETTEH, CAPE COAST
