Chief Superintendent Victor Tandoh, Commander of the Motor Transport and Traffic Unit (MTTU) of the Police Service, on Thursday spoke against the spate of accidents on the roads saying it is claiming more lives than the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Chief Superintendent Tandoh said accidents claim more than 500 people a year with 7,000 sustaining various degrees of injuries.
He, therefore, called on all stakeholders to give the needed support in curbing the menace. Mr Tandoh was addressing a day's forum on an awareness creation campaign on accident reduction on the Accra-Nsawam road at Amasaman in the Greater Accra Region.
The forum organised by the National Road Safety Commission and the Department of Co-operatives under the Ga District, attracted drivers from various co-operative unions, personnel from the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS).
Chief Supt. Tandoh said the Accra - Nsawam road recorded 86 accidents involving 123 vehicles from January to June this year.
He said 12 people were killed with 68 sustaining various injuries. He mentioned over speeding, overloading, wrongful over taking, drinking-driving and non-maintenance of vehicles as some of the causes of accidents.
The rest were negligence on the part of pedestrians and mechanical defects.
The Commander said most of the deaths on the Accra-Kumasi road were due to fatigue on the part of drivers who travel beyond Kumasi to Accra adding, some try to get the city earlier and return in order to make more money.
"But you must remember that, your lives are more precious than the money you make."
He urged drivers to adhere to the Highway Code and rest after travelling long distances to avoid road accidents and loss of lives. Mr Tandoh said it was becoming increasingly clear that more private motorists drive dangerously adding that within four weeks the MTTU had recorded 218 cases out of which 142 private car drivers.
"We shall continue to educate, arrest and prosecute offenders no matter their social standing."
He however, asked policemen to desist from collecting bribes from drivers as such behaviour was dragging the name of the Service into disrepute.
Chief Superintendent Fatima Fuseini, an educator of the National Road Safety Commission announced that the commission was embarking on a programme aimed at upgrading the skills of drivers.
She cautioned tipper truck drivers against indiscipline on the roads and urged them to adhere to rules of driving.
In her address, Ms Perpetual Nyarko, a District Co-operative Officer called for regular campaigns to keep road users informed about their rights and responsibilities.
Mr Patrick Norteye Yeboah, Presiding member of Ga District Assembly said the assembly, the Commission and other stakeholders will soon enact laws to ensure safe driving in the district and provide lorry parks for drivers to clamp down on activities of floating drivers.
