Government To Install Security Cameras On Major Highways - NRSA

The government is to install security cameras on major highways in the country, Mrs. Mary Obiri Yeboah, the Director-General of the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) has hinted.

She explained the move was to monitor and check driver negligence and indiscipline, which remained major cause of surging road accidents and fatalities in the country.

Mrs. Yeboah said discussions were ongoing between road sector agencies and relevant institutions, saying such security cameras would be installed on identified accident-prone highways possibly by the close of the year.

"The installation would be done on pilot basis to assess the impact", she said, and advised drivers to comply with all road safety regulations in order not to be found wanting.

Mrs. Yeboah gave the hint when she interacted with commercial drivers and transport unions at a stakeholder meeting in Sunyani, as part of her two-day working visit to the Bono Region.

Accompanied by Mr. Kwame Koduah Atuahene, the Head of Inspectorate, Regulations and Complaints Department and other key staff of the NRSA, Mrs. Yeboah explained she was in the region to build institutional support towards the regulatory mandate of the Authority.

"The Driver Vehicle and Licensing Authority (DVLA) is also working hard on its automation project. The NRSA would also work on similar automation projects and all these are geared towards checking driver indiscipline to bring sanity on the road" she said.

Mrs. Yeboah emphasized it was not the intention of the NRSA to frustrate commercial drivers but to control road crashes and advised drivers and transport unions to cooperate to bring sanity on the roads.

Touching on the new regulatory mandate of the Authority, Mr. Atuahene said the NRSA was working on a Legislative Instrument (LI) that would be put before Parliament soon, saying when passed, it would facilitate realistic implementation of Act 993.

Under the Act, he explained, all commercial drivers were mandated to join transport unions of their choice, adding that drivers who failed to comply would not be allowed to operate.