The Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service, on Wednesday, sensitised couriers of Glovo, and other dispatch riders on road safety issues and the need to stay safe and protect other motorists.
Glovo is a company that engages in purchasing, pickup and delivery of preferred goods with motorbikes to customers.
The sensitisation programme, held in Accra was a step undertaking by Glovo in partnership with the MTTD to reduce road traffic crashes, being recorded in the country for 2021.
Superintendent Alexander Obeng, the Director of Education, Research and Training, MTTD, said from January 1 to July 31, 2021, there had been a total number of 9,520 motor crashes.
Out of the total number, 16,226 vehicles were involved with 1,706 persons killed and 9,299 persons injured.
He said a number of factors contributed to road traffic crashes, including that of humans such as drink-driving, fatigue-driving, dangerous driving, careless driving, over speeding, wrongful overtaking, poor vision, mobile phone usage, disregard for road signs and markings, and pedestrian/vehicle conflicts.
Environmental factors include poorly maintained/constructed roads, bad weather and absence of road markings, signs and furniture, while vehicular factors comprised poorly maintained vehicles, disabled vehicles on road, improper vehicle conversion and unworthy vehicles.
“When the Police arrest you for crossing a red light, it is not to worry you, but to alert you on how lucky you are to have escaped possible accident and death,” he told the couriers.
Supt. Obeng blamed the numerous deaths, injuries and destruction of properties of the citizenry on the current indiscipline driver behaviour and associated high spate of road crashes in the country.
This, he said, placed a huge responsibility on all stakeholders in the Ghana Transport Industry to find solution to the carnage on the country’s roads.
He said in about a 100 per cent of motor accidents, 75 per cent of the deaths recorded for years were men.
Road crashes tend to have a number of implications on public health, a situation that overcrowds hospital wards and beds with motor accident victims leaving no space for victims of other health disorders, he said.
It also demotes foreign direct investment, affects tourism, dents the nation’s image and affects human resource capacity, while leaving the victim’s family with unbearable grief and pain and increasing the number of widows, he bemoaned.
Educating the couriers on how to identify road signs, Supt. Obeng said ‘warning signs’ had red boundaries, ‘prohibitory signs’ had red boundaries, ‘mandatory signs’ had red, blue, and black boundaries while ‘informatory signs’ had green and blue backgrounds.
In addition, warning signs are rectangular, prohibitory signs are in circles, mandatory signs are in circles, and informatory signs are also in circles.
He advised: “If you don’t die in a motor accident, the pain and suffering you will go through including physical pain, financial challenge, and psychological trauma is not easy. So when you jump onto the motorbike, don’t drive dangerously, recklessly or under the influence of alcohol”.
The Director explained that adoption and application of the road furniture would not only make everyone who sat before the steer, defensive drivers but also ensure their survival and safety.
Mrs Pearlyn Budu, the General Manager, Glovo Ghana, said the sensitisation programme was necessary as they realized a huge rise in the number of motor crashes, adding that their priority was to heavily invest in protecting their riders and the general public.
She said Glovo had as part of its outlined activities to periodically sensitise the riders to always bear in their mind their duty to remain decent on the road.
She encouraged other businesses that operated within the transportation system to help raise awareness of the need to promote road safety.
