The Northern Regional Director of the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), Mohammed Abdul-Samad, has said human error constitutes more 90 percent of road crashes in Ghana. This he noted, means people’s actions and or inactions generally referred to as attitude or behaviours decide the course (frequency and severity) of road traffic crashes in the country.
In view of this, the National Road Safety Authority has launched a campaign christened: “Stay Alive Campaign” which adopts the Human Factor Model (HFM) and put the human being at the centre of the interaction with components that surrounds him/her in the road transport environment.
Mr Abdul-Samad reiterated at the launch of the campaign in Tamale on Tuesday (December 14, 2021) that road traffic crashes are man-made and not accidental and therefore cannot be blamed on the devil.
He noted the objective of the Stay Alive Campaign is to influence the general public to be advocates for road safety by adopting and shouting out the slogan “Gyae Obonsam Adwuma No!” whenever they encounter wrong and unsafe road-user behaviour on the road, a road safety related problem that must be addressed to forestall safety in order to influence reduction of road traffic deaths and injuries by 15% as required by the United Nations.
He indicated the campaign will focus on attitudinal change to clampdown on bribery among law enforcers, laxity among policy makers and implementers, excessive and over-speeding, wrongful overtaking, driving tired, jaywalking, non-wearing of seat belts, and passing red lights among others.
However, the Northern Regional Director further outlined some punitive sanctions that would be taken against recalcitrant and disobedient persons violating the road traffic regulations which include a minimum fine of 250 penalty units equivalent to GHS3000 and not exceeding 500 penalty units (GHS6000).
Meanwhile, COP Timothy Yoosa Bonga, the Northern Regional Commander of the Ghana Police Service said the region and for that matter Ghana requires everybody to stay alive to contribute their quota in the development of the nation.
“You don’t need to die early and so, this is a wonderful theme: Stay Alive” he
COP Bonga said the collaboration over the period between the Police Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) and the Road Safety Authority, DVLA, the district assemblies among other stakeholders in the region has been encouraging.
According to him, the effort has ensured compliance with existing procedures and standards that has resulted in the reduction of the risk of road traffic crashes, fatalities and injuries in the region.
However, the Police Chief indicated most drivers and riders fail to observe the various laws governing the usage of the road and therefore the human error resulting from discipline on the road, lack of focus, impatient drunk driving, driving tired and intolerance account to most road crashes.
