OBEY ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATIONS (MIRROR, PAGE 35, DEC 19)

From Samuel Duodu, Techiman.

The Brong Ahafo Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Seth Charles Oteng, has called on road users to obey road traffic regulations to avoid fatal accidents before, during and after the Christmas and New Year festivities.
Mr Oteng noted that it was during this period that more people travelled while drivers cashed in to make more profit through speeding, overloading and reckless driving.
He made the call at the regional launch of this year’s National Road Safety Campaign for the Christmas and New Year periods dubbed “Arrive Alive” at the Techiman Main Lorry Park last Tuesday.
The campaign is to remind all road users, especially commercial drivers, of the need to be cautious on the road and strictly observe road traffic rules and regulations to avoid accidents during and after the festivities.
An 11-member Road Safety Committee for the Techiman Municipality was inaugurated at the ceremony.
The day was also marked with a street procession of placard-bearing schoolchildren. some some of the placards read “Road Safety is a shared responsibility”,  “If you drink, do not drive and if you drive do not drink”, “Avoid speeding and wrongful overtaking” through some of the principal streets of the municipality to heighten awareness of road safety.
DCOP Oteng, who is also the Chairman of the Regional Road Safety Committee (RRSC), said the festivities also marked a period of joy and merrymaking with excessive drinking of alcoholic beverages by drivers resulting in speeding and wrongful overtaking.
He therefore reminded drivers that section (4) of Act 683 (2004) as amended by Act 761 (2008) permitted alcohol levels of 0.08 per cent when driving and expressed the hope that drivers would strictly observe this regulation to avoid any catastrophe during the period.
“If you drink, do not drive and if you drive do not drink,” he advised the drivers.
Mr Daniel Wuako, Regional Director of the NRSC, said the Brong Ahafo office of the NRSC in collaboration with the RRSC and the Municipal and District Road Safety Committees had drawn up a number of activities to sustain the campaign.
Mr Wuako said road safety was a shared and collective responsibility and therefore called on all and sundry to play their roles to ensure an accident-free Christmas and New Year and also prevent the carnage on the road in the country and the nation as a whole.
Mr Noble Appiah, the Executive Director of the NRSC, who inaugurated the Techiman Municipal Road Safety Committee, stressed the need for all road users to be cautious to reduce avoidable and preventable road accidents.
The Omanhene of the Techiman Traditional Area, Oseadeeyo Akumfi Ameyaw IV, who chaired the function, stressed the need for drivers and passengers to ensure an accident-free Christmas and New Year.