Include road safety rules in school curriculum– ACP Boah advocates

Board Chairman for Olibest Road Safety Organisation and Manhyia Divisional Police Commander, ACP Kwaku Boah has called on Ghana Education Service to include the teaching of Road Safety Measures and Safety Precautions in our primary schools to create awareness about traffic safety among students.

He also recommended that road safety measures be included in the curriculum, be discussed in assemblies and lunchtime breaks, and be performed as skits so that they get ingrained in students.

ACP Kwaku Boah in an interview with OTEC News during a workshop organized by Olibest Road Safety Organization to educate the Berean Seventh Day Adventist Church at Gyenyase on Saturday December 14, 2019 said one reason why children and young people are killed or injured in road accidents is because they do not have the necessary knowledge and skills that allow them to deal with the hostile traffic environment.

“It is vitally important to help shape children and young people’s understanding and attitudes towards road safety, to help give them the best chance of keeping safe, while they are young and such sessions are helpful to bring awareness,” ACP Boah said

It would be very unusual for any learning area to give up time for the inclusion of a subject such as road safety education that some consider to be important but others think is not the responsibility of the school, he stressed.

ACP Boah said the repercussions of children being killed or injured in accidents have a profound impact within school communities.

Chief Executive Officer for Olibest Road safety Organization Mr Ricahrd Karikari advised Ghanaians to switch off any electrical appliance after usage to avoid any fire outbreak during and after the Christmas festivity.

He, however, urged drivers and road users to adhere to basic road safety signs to reduce the occurrence of road accidents during the festive season and encouraged drivers to check their vehicles before putting them on the road and also endeavour not to drink and drive.

“As car owners, we must check our vehicles and make sure they are roadworthy before we put them on the road”, he added.
He cautioned all drivers who ‘drink and drive’ to desist from that attitude as “it will only lead to accidents on our roads and lives will be lost”.

“Some accidents on our roads are avoidable but negligence on the part of motor riders, drivers and road users accelerate those accidents”, he said.

He urged the media and other stakeholders to educate drivers, motor riders and road users to prevent accidents on the roads.