MTTU intensifies road safety campaign,Daily Graphic pg 47, December 14, 2012

TWO thousand and sixty nine deaths (2069) cases have been recorded at Motor Traffic and Transport Unit of the Ghana Police Service from January to November this year.
As compared to last year, out of the 12,341 cases that were reported 2,083 persons lost their lives with injuries to 12,004.
The MTTU Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Angwubutoge Awuni, disclosed this to the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday.
He expressed worry about the increase in accident cases every year despite their efforts to reduce the carnage on the roads.
Mr Awuni said they were preparing to reduce accidents during the Christmas season.
“Due to the elections we are already on the ground so we are going to continue through to the Christmas and the New Year season,” he stated.
He said extra personnel’s would be deployed from other regions to Accra to ensure peaceful festive season, adding that logistics were already in place for them to use.
ACP Awuni said they would continue their education campaign for the transport unions and pedestrians, explaining that pedestrian knocked downs were on the ascendancy.
Two thousand five hundred and ten (2510) cases of pedestrians knock downs has been recorded this year as against 2142 in 2011.
He said the MTTU would continue to ensure that drivers serviced their vehicles to avoid common faults such as broken wind screens, brake failure and drunk driving.
He called on passengers to be vigilant so they could identify some faults on the vehicles they boarded.
“Passengers have to check the vehicles they board by checking out some of the possible faulty areas and avoid drunk drivers,” he said.
He also urged drivers going on long journeys to rest after every four hours and that passengers must ensure that the drivers rested before they continued the journey.
“Drivers must not rush to kill people and the passengers also have to ensure that,” he said.
 He urged fog light users to be careful in order to avoid accident during foggy periods.
ACP Awuni also urged car owners to employ qualified drivers to drive their commercial cars and maintain their cars.
He added that the MTTU would continue to ensure safety on the roads but it must be a shared responsibility of drivers, passengers, public and the media.