Children must be protected when crossing the road - NRSC

Mr. Thomas Bismark Boakye, Ashanti Regional Director of the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), has called for a concerted effort to educate children on safer pedestrian crossing skills.

This is needed, he said, to stem the rising spate of child fatalities resulting from pedestrian knockdowns in the Ashanti Region.

Mr Boakye said, this comes as a result of the region recording 126 cases of pedestrian knock downs involving children under the age of 16 years during the first quarter of 2012.

“Teachers and Parents need to understand that the road traffic system is complex and the child’s ability to cope is low; they therefore need assistance to protect them from preventable deaths and injuries” he added.

He said this when addressing selected Editors of Radio Stations and the print media at a sensitization programme in Kumasi.

He said children are important assets to the nation and that all must act together to educate drivers to slow down on reaching the village communities along major highways to improve the safety of pedestrians.

Mr Boakye called on radio stations to allot some time everyday to educate children on how to observe the “kerb drill” that is they should “look left, look right and look left again” before crossing the road.

He cautioned drivers against speeding, outlining chances of pedestrian survival as follows: 20 Kilometres per Hour- 95%, 50 kilometers per hour- 80 % and 60-65 kilometers per hour 5-15% while those who speed at 70 per hour have no chance of survival at all.**