By Bernice Bessey
To reduce vehicular accidents and death toll on the roads, engineers have been engaged to re-design the roads to make them more accommodating and condusive for all road users, especially pedestrians.
Current roads designs, especially in the Accra Metropolis, are more to accommodating vehicular traffic than pedestrians and cyclists.
Due to this, the Global Health Advocacy Incubator with Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), put together a two-day workshop to train journalists and road engineers on how to improve and advocate for road safety in the country.
The workshop, which was held on August 1 and 2, 2017 at the Accra City Hotel, had in attendance participants from various media houses on day-one, and road engineers from the Roads and Highways, Department Urban Roads, etc., attending the technical section on day-two.
The workshop was also necessitated by the high rate of pedestrian traffic fatalities being recorded every year.
Of 2015 statistics, according to the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), 49 percent of roads accidents in the country involved pedestrians, and children constitute 15 percent of the total fatality.
Sadly, 27 percent of pedestrians don’t survive, while the rest suffer various degrees of injuries, leaving devastating impacts on families, the community and economy.
Rolf Rosenkranz, a Journalist Trainer with Global Health Advocacy Incubator, supporting Ghana’s chapter of the 2017 Accra Safety Journalist Followership, challenged media practitioners to make road safety reports a priority.
Mr. Rosenkranz said the country had high incident of crashes, because the roads are not pedestrian user-friendly, as result, pedestrians end up competing with motorists on the roads.
He urged that journalists must ensure their reports ensure policy and behavioural changes.
The AMA-Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety, Programme Coordinator, Osei Kuffour, said the assembly was passionate about ensuring both motorists and pedestrians’ lives are saved through reducing speeds.
He was sure that the partnership between Bloomberg and AMA would go a long way to protect lives that are being lost daily through traffic accidents.
William Nyarko, Executive Director- Africa Centre for international Law and Accountability, aiding participants to understand traffic laws and regulations better, used the occasion to appeal for the need of the nation move away from the imprisonment of minor traffic offenders.
He explained that some of the traffic offences should only attract fines, not putting bodies in prison.
He, however, identified lack of enforcement of the laws and bye-laws as some of the factors influencing traffic accidents in the country.
Abhimanyu Prakash appealed for an improved Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system that would encourage private vehicle owners to use public transport to relieve the roads off congestion and traffic fatalities.
He, further, called for some of the road designs to be enhanced, in order to reduce accidents and improve and protect pedestrians from being killed by vehicles. Therefore, our roads must have bicycle lanes, pedestrians’ walkways, pedestrian waiting benches, trees, road markings, etc.
By Bernice Bessey To reduce vehicular accidents and death toll on the roads, engineers have been engaged to re-design the roads to make them more accommodating and condusive for all road users, especially pedestrians. Current roads designs, especially in the Accra Metropolis, are more to accommodating vehicular traffic than pedestrians and cyclists. Due to […] Read Full Story
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