The lack of adequate funds to implement road safety policies and action plans has contributed to continued road crashes and fatalities, a road planning consultant has observed.
Dr Paulina Agyekum said stakeholders implementing road safety initiatives faced the difficulty of inadequate funds and, therefore, were unable to fully implement action plans and policies which could reduce road crashes.
Dr Agyekum was speaking to the media at the opening of the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) stakeholders’ workshop in Accra yesterday.
Participants will evaluate the 2011-2013 Action Plans of the Third National Road Safety Strategy (NRSS III).
The stakeholders of the NRSC are the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA).
Others are the Department of Urban Roads (DUR), the Department of Feeder Roads (DFR), the National Ambulance Service (NAS) and the Ghana Red Cross Society (GRCS).
The NRSS III was launched in 2011 to align with the United Nation’s Decade of Action for Road Safety initiative which, among other things, seeks to challenge member countries to put in measures to systematically reduce the trend of persons killed and injured in road traffic by 50 per cent by 2020.
She acknowledged, however, that the Road Fund and the Ghana Insurance Commission (GIC) contributed funds to road safety management but said the two organisations did not have fixed percentages of funds for road safety.
She said as a result, stakeholders working with the NRSC had been unable to achieve their targets, as well as implement their action plans towards reducing road crashes.
For instance, she said, road agencies had not been able to work on roads which had been identified as “accident black spots” due to inadequate funding.
“There are so many roads which still have accident black spots but they are yet to be improved and those sections are still causing accidents,” she said.
Despite the challenges, Dr Agyekum noted that the stakeholders had made some strides and recommended, among others, that the NRSC should generate its own funds to support its activities.
The workshop, she said, was to review the action plan to generate effective measures to help address and manage road safety.
In a speech read on her behalf, the Minister of Transport, Mrs Dzifa Attivor, said road safety was a national and developmental issue that required collective commitment to manage its improvement.
Dr Agyekum was speaking to the media at the opening of the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) stakeholders’ workshop in Accra yesterday.
Participants will evaluate the 2011-2013 Action Plans of the Third National Road Safety Strategy (NRSS III).
The stakeholders of the NRSC are the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA).
Others are the Department of Urban Roads (DUR), the Department of Feeder Roads (DFR), the National Ambulance Service (NAS) and the Ghana Red Cross Society (GRCS).
The NRSS III was launched in 2011 to align with the United Nation’s Decade of Action for Road Safety initiative which, among other things, seeks to challenge member countries to put in measures to systematically reduce the trend of persons killed and injured in road traffic by 50 per cent by 2020.
No fix budget
Dr Agyekum said while road safety was a huge responsibility, there was no dedicated budget to ensure its management.She acknowledged, however, that the Road Fund and the Ghana Insurance Commission (GIC) contributed funds to road safety management but said the two organisations did not have fixed percentages of funds for road safety.
She said as a result, stakeholders working with the NRSC had been unable to achieve their targets, as well as implement their action plans towards reducing road crashes.
For instance, she said, road agencies had not been able to work on roads which had been identified as “accident black spots” due to inadequate funding.
“There are so many roads which still have accident black spots but they are yet to be improved and those sections are still causing accidents,” she said.
Despite the challenges, Dr Agyekum noted that the stakeholders had made some strides and recommended, among others, that the NRSC should generate its own funds to support its activities.
Workshop
Earlier at the opening ceremony, the Executive Director of the NRSC, Mrs May Obiri-Yeboah, said to meet the expectations of NRSS III, the stakeholders were assigned specific tasks which were based on research, data, institutional strengths and experiences.The workshop, she said, was to review the action plan to generate effective measures to help address and manage road safety.
In a speech read on her behalf, the Minister of Transport, Mrs Dzifa Attivor, said road safety was a national and developmental issue that required collective commitment to manage its improvement.
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