Stop Interfering In Our Work— MTTD Commander

The Ashanti Regional Commander of the Police Motor Traffic and Transport  Department (MTTD), Superintendent Emmanuel Adu Boahen, has made a passionate appeal to traditional and political leaders in the region to stop interfering in their work.
That, he said, had made the prosecution for road safety infringements in the region almost impossible.

“Almost every time a driver is arrested for a road traffic offence, calls come in from all sorts of high officers, especially politicians and traditional rulers who intercede for the release of the culprit.

“We need to bring this to an end, so we can see to the prosecution of offenders to serve as a deterrent to others”, he pleaded.

Training 

Mr Adu-Boahen made the call at a Road Safety Communication Strategic Planning meeting organised by the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) in collaboration with the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) and the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS).

Communication officers from road safety stakeholder institutions in Kumasi attended as participants.

The meeting was to help strategise to step up the educational campaign in a bid to curb the rising cases of road crashes in the region.

Making roads safe

Mr Adu-Boahen said the police were bent on making sure that roads in Kumasi were made safe for all categories of road users and called for the support of all stakeholders to assist the police in that endeavour.

According to him, his office alone could not achieve that if even one road safety stakeholder institution did not play its part.

The MTTD Regional Commander further admonished all road safety stakeholder institutions to play their part in order to help the police ensure safety on the roads in the city of Kumasi and urged all to fully play their parts and join forces in order “to strengthen the police to effectively enforce the law on our roads.”

Crashes on the rise

The Ashanti Regional Director of the NRSA, Mrs Simbiat Wiredu, expressed concern about the rate of road crashes in the region.

She said in the first quarter of the year alone, the region recorded 581 road crashes and described it as very alarming and should be a cause of concern for all road safety stakeholder organisations. 

“This trend cannot continue and this is the reason why the NRSA is partnering with the media to launch the second phase of the ‘Arrive Alive’ mass media campaign to tighten road safety education and enforcement throughout the country,” she said.

The Deputy Director of Administration for the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), Mrs Yvonne Nabo, who represented the Chief Executive, also appealed to all drivers to drive within the speed limit, obey all road safety regulations to help preserve lives.

She charged all road safety stakeholder institutions to work closely together to ensure safety on the roads.