Blame accidents on over-confidence

Accra, May 19, GNA - Mr. Jonathan Tettey Padi, President of the Ghana Society for the Prevention Of Accidents (GHASPA), has blamed the current spate of road accidents on misjudgement and over-confidence exhibited by some commercial drivers and other road users.

He said speeding and overloading, as well as the inability of some drivers to repair faulty odometers and speedometers, were some of the core reasons why road accidents had increased in recent times.

Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Friday, Mr Padi noted that most of the accidents were due to human error and could have been prevented if practical measures had been established by agencies tasked to do so.

He called for the passing of stricter laws for commercial drivers, including withdrawing licences of drivers who survived fatal accidents as a deterrent to other road users.

Mr Padi said it was also necessary for the general public who patronized commercial vehicles to insist on checking their driving licences to determine their years of experience before hiring their services.

"There must be a concerted effort by stakeholders in the transport industry to prevent accidents to ensure sanity on our roads," he said.

Mr Padi, an ex-worker of the erstwhile Government Transport Department, further urged the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) to refrain from registering vehicles meant for cargo transport as passenger vehicles to ensure that only those originally meant for transporting human beings were used on the road.