Ghana takes decisive steps to reduce high rate of road carnage

The Government is taking steps to review road traffic regulations in the country, Mr Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, the Minister of Transport, has said.

“We have commenced a process to review the Road Traffic Act, 2004 (Act 683), and the Road Traffic Regulations, 2012 L.I.2180, to keep up with the changing trends in the road transport industry,” he noted.

According to him, the measures had become necessary to also address some implementation lapses in the existing laws.

Mr Ofori Asiamah, who was inaugurating the newly built Obuasi District Office of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), at Kunka in the Obuasi Municipality of the Ashanti Region, said the importance of road safety in the developmental agenda of the country could not be glossed over.

Ghana is considered as one of the accident-prone countries in the West African sub-region, recording an average of 2, 000 deaths per year through road crashes.

Statistics from the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) shows that Ghana loses about 1.7 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) every year to road collisions in addition to the loss of lives.

Even though the statistics indicate that road safety is a major problem in Ghana, studies to investigate and understand issues of road traffic crashes and associated factors have been insufficient.

According to the Transport Minister, understanding the physiology of road traffic crashes was critical to policy formulations and directions, as well as a priority in any decision-making efforts related to public safety and welfare.

The Ministry, he said, had directed the DVLA and the NRSA to work closely with the Police Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) in the automation of traffic enforcement.

It was also important that the NRSA collaborated more with the MTTD to intensify enforcement activities and scale-up road safety education and awareness programmes, Mr Ofori Asiamah advised.

He lauded the DVLA for the manner in which they were conducting this year’s vehicle registration exercise, especially the Authority’s adherence to the ongoing digital transformation.

“The DVLA is also encouraged to explore cashless payment systems in order to actualize the full benefits of the digital transformation,” he said.

Mr Kwasi Agyeman Busia, Chief Executive of the DVLA, explained that the construction of the new office was in line with the Authority’s strategic plan to continue to build fit-for-purpose structures to enhance its service delivery.

“We continue to leverage our foundational principles of enhancing critical people competencies, improved business processes (digitization) and the deployment of cutting-edge technology to deliver optimal products with customer excellence,” the Chief Executive observed.

The new DVLA District Office has facilities, including an administration unit, registration and capture rooms, premium office, accounts section, store room, manager’s office, file room as well as Customs office.