THE National Road Safety Action plan aimed at reducing road crashes and fatalities was launched in Accra yesterday.
The strategic plan, an offshoot of the National Road Safety Strategy III launched in 2011, is in line with the United Nations Global Plan for the Decade of Action of Road Safety 2011-2020 intended to reduce road crashes to the barest minimum.
Under the plan, the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) and other stakeholders are required to undertake activities that would realise the objectives of the programme.
The NRSC and its stakeholder bodies such as the Driver & Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana Highway Authority, have, therefore, signed the action plan.
Other signatories to the action plan are the Department of Urban Roads, Department of Feeder Roads, the National Ambulance Service and the Ghana Red Cross Society.
Under the plan, stakeholders would also seek to reduce road fatalities by 23 per cent this year.
An amount of GH¢151 million would be used for an effective implementation of the programme from 2011-2013.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Transport Minister, Alhaji Collins Dauda, said rhetoric's on the implementation of road safety regulations ought to be relegated to the background.
He said in spite of the availability of enough regulations on road safety on the country’s statute, the implementation process had, however, become problematic”.
“We need commitment to translate written regulations into implementation, since their survival are paramount,” Alhaji Dauda said.
The minister expressed disappointment at the conduct of drivers who engaged in drunk driving and received or made telephone calls among other dangerous activities while driving.
He urged the stakeholders to ensure they provide a checklist to the ministry periodically, for an appropriate monitoring and evaluation of the programme.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Paul Tawiah Quaye, and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the DVLA, Mr Justice Amegashie, both indicated that the reduction of casualty should remain key on the agenda of their respective institutions.
According to them, they were committed to the achievement of the objectives of the plan and appealed to the general public, particularly politicians, to discontinue unnecessary interference in their line of duty.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Executive Director of the NRSC, Mr Noble Appiah, indicated that the commission was looking forward to an effective stakeholder engagement as part of immediate strategies to make the programme’s objectives achievable.
Mr Appiah expressed the hope that the 23 per cent reduction rate pegged for 2012 would be achieved.
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