41 Drivers In Volta Region Honoured For Safe Driving

The Volta Regional branch of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) has honoured 41 drivers for exhibiting safe driving skills.

The drivers, who come from all parts of the region, received various items as their award. The items included television sets, sound systems, pieces of cloth, furniture and citations, among others. 

At the awards ceremony in Ho, the chairman for the Volta Regional branch of GPRTU, Mr Moses Davor, said the event was instituted to reward hardworking, dutiful and dedicated drivers who had over the years exhibited skilful driving skills and had not been involved in any accident over the period under consideration.

According to him, GPRTU had collaborated with key stakeholders in road safety to educate drivers under its umbrella on ways of avoiding accidents on the road.  

The awards scheme was started a year ago with the objective of motivating drivers to give of their best insofar as the profession was concerned. 

‘But in honouring our dedicated drivers, we also reiterate our appreciation to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), the National Road Safety Commission and the Ghana Police Service for the roles they have played in getting our drivers educated on road safety,” he said.

Drivers need practicals
He expressed concern, however, over how the commercial drivers in the region obtained driving licences. He suggested to the DVLA to issue licences only to drivers who were affiliated to credible transport unions since they had undergone practical training.  

In addition, he urged municipal and district assemblies to check to see if there were enough spaces in the lorry parks before granting access rights to new and emerging transport unions, as this would avert the present state of congestion in the parks. 

‘New lorry parks should be created for the newly established unions as a means of reducing tension between them and the already existing ones,’ he said.

The Volta Regional Director of DVLA, Mr Denning Delly, reminded drivers that it was required by rule to have seat belts fixed in commercial vehicles. He said the seat belt helped to reduce injury in the event of an accident. 

According to him, DVLA was working hard to have the measure enforced and, therefore, urged drivers to comply with the directive in their own interest. 

He said further that DVLA had introduced an electronic roadworthy certificate and sticker to replace the manual document. He said the measure was a means of eradicating fake roadworthy documents from the system.

Fare issue 
The General Secretary of GPRTU, Mr Stephen Okudzeto, observed that while a section of drivers had complied with the directive to reduce fares by five per cent, others had not. He, therefore, urged the Volta Branch of the GPRTU, to abide by the directive in order to maintain good fellowship with the travelling public. 

‘If the fuel prices go up we are quick to increase fares, so why can’t we also reduce fares when prices go down,’ he queried.

Mr Okudzeto said GPRTU would sanction commercial drivers who refused to reduce transport fares as directed.