Blame institutional lapses for high rate of road accidents – Kofi Akpaloo

Ghanaian Politician, Percival Kofi Akpaloo has explained the increasing rates of road accidents in the country can be reduced if institutions responsible for road safety, are efficient and effective in executing their mandate.

On his accord, numerous lives lost on the roads are avoidable if institutions like the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) do what is expected of them.

“The DVLA has to ensure all drivers have their licenses and acquire them through the proper channels before hitting our roads. The period in which people use illegal means to acquire licenses must end and that is why we are killing ourselves in road carnages as most drivers our roads are unqualified.”

Still on the functions of the DVLA, he indicated some car owners forge their number plates and together with those using DV and DP plates, cause major accidents as a result of careless driving.

Speaking at the Happy Development Dialogues hosted by Happy98.9FM’s Don Prah on the theme; ‘Road Safety: A Stakeholders Dialogue on Ensuring Safety on Our Roads’, Kofi Akpaloo stated, “There are so many unregistered vehicles on our roads. Some of the vehicles have forged number plates while others use the DV and DP plates for long periods without registering their cars and most of them drive carelessly causing road accidents.”

In a developing country like Ghana, Kofi Akpaloo believes it is high time cars are towed from roads within 20 minutes of them breaking down to prevent road congestion, thus, road accidents. He charged the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), “We need to let drivers understand the roads are not their property so they cannot abandon their cars on the shoulders of roads for more than 20 minutes. The NRSA must tow abandoned cars by roadsides and get drivers to pay penalties before retrieving their cars. Getting our institutions working is a way we can reduce road accidents.”

With insurance being an important factor in Ghana for road users, he tasked the National Insurance Commission to also improve their services by thoroughly examining cars and vehicle owners before selling them insurance. “Don’t just insure a car because it is new but know how long their car owner has been driving, inspect their licenses before insuring their vehicles.”

Global Media Alliance Broadcasting Company (GMABC) has dedicated the months of November and December to sharing educative and informative discussions on all issues that focus on road safety and automobiles. The campaign has Donewell Insurance as main partner with supporting partners as CFAO Motors Ghana Ltd., Loyalty Insurance and Johanni Auto Cool Ltd. and Ghanaweb as a media partner.