Ebo Hammond, President of CILT-Ghana
The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT-Ghana), has called on road transport policy makers to review the strategies of ending road crashes to ensure their effectiveness.
According to the Institute, despite all the efforts and strategies government and its agencies have put in place, deaths through road crashes increased by 30%.
President of CILT-Ghana, Ebo Hammond addressing the media in the wake of the two separate accidents that occurred on the Kintampo-Tamale road and the Ekumfi Abor crash said, “safety on our roads must become a national transport policy issue which needs urgent and immediate long-term actions. We, as a country, may need to consider a drastic action as done with the presidential response to the ‘Galamsey’ menace to help stem this threatening tide.”
He enumerated that as the country awaits investigations into the various road crashes, it must continue to put into consideration the many human errors such as deep night driving without prior and adequate rest, reckless overtaking including unnecessary over-speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol and narcotics and lack of continuous education and training for commercial drivers.
He averred that driver behaviour and attitude still remain the immediate cause of road crashes, hence CILT-Ghana sees continuous education as key intervention to the enforcement of the strategies.
He also mentioned that Drivers must endeavour to exercise self-discipline when faced with the temptation to take decisions that put the lives of passengers and themselves at risk.
Ebo Hammond averred that government and its agencies must have the will to enforce Driver training regulations as stated in the LI 2180, Regulations 33 and 125 under the renewal of drivers’ license.
“A driver must show evidence of having attended a registered training programme organized by a certified driver training institution,” and “A person licensed as a commercial vehicle driver shall attend at least one-refresher course in driving and road safety every year organized by a certified institution,” he quoted.
According to him government must also fast track the establishment of a Road Transport Regulatory Body to help bring sanity in the public transport system since it is the only transport sub-sector that has no overarching regulatory body, and allowing for self-regulation by associations and unions, and individual transport organizations which according to him is not a viable option for developing and modernizing the sector.
The CILT-Ghana President also indicated that higher level education and training model, before entry and during operation must be instituted to meet the educational needs of professional drivers and must be mandatory for re-licensing.
CILT-Ghana, he said is also calling for an on-board technology by commercial transport owners to monitor in-vehicle behaviours of passengers and drivers whilst efforts must be geared towards the dualizing all major highways such as Accra-Kumasi-Kintampo-Tamale, Acccra-Cape Coast-Takoradi, and Accra-Sogakope-Aflao.
The Institute however expressed regrets and deepest condolences to the victims and affected families over last Friday’s gory accidents which claimed about 70 lives.
“We will continue to do our best as an institute, to promote better safety on our roads,” he said.
