Transport unions worried about accidents

Kumasi, July 20, GNA - Some road transport unions in the Ashanti Region have expressed concern about the increasing spate of road accidents involving articulated trucks that ply the country's major highways to the neighbouring landlocked countries.

They attributed the accidents, which sometimes resulted in fatalities, to overloading and careless driving on the part of the drivers and appealed to the Ministry of Transportation and the police Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) to initiate stringent measures to enforce the vehicle loading regulations.

Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Kumasi on Thursday, Mr Sumaila Boakye, Chairman of the Kumasi-Takoradi-Elubo branch of the GPRTU, attributed the accidents, especially those on the Accra/Kumasi highway, to the overloading of goods by these articulated drivers and the undulating nature of the road as a result of the ongoing rehabilitation works.

As a result, he said, some of the drivers were not able to keep to their side of the road while other used highlights, especially in the night to the disadvantage of the small cars. These, Mr Boakye, said made it almost impossible for other vehicles to use the road and this at times resulted in accidents. Of late residents in the communities along the Accra/Kumasi highways and some passengers have also expressed similar sentiments on the spate of accidents involving these articulated trucks.

In less than a month there had been more than 20 reported accidents involving some of these articulated trucks on the Konongo/Kumasi portion of the road.

While some blamed them on overloading, others said they were due to the narrowness and undulating nature of the roads as a result of the rehabilitation works going on.

Some of the drivers also blame the contractors for constructing narrow and almost impassable bypasses making it difficult especially for heavily loaded trucks to meander freely on the road. They have therefore appealed to the contractors to make proper and accessible bypasses to prevent accidents.