Most Road
accidents are caused by working conditions of drivers –
Consultant
Ho, June 24, GNA - Job insecurity and an uncertain future
among commercial drivers are partly to blame for most road
accidents in Ghana, Mr. Francis Dimake of Aprotech Services
said at Ho on Tuesday.
He
said commercial drivers, except the few who work for big
reputable companies, are hired and fired at the pleasure of
vehicle owners to whom the minimum wage means nothing.
These, coupled with domestic pressures and the need to
secure their own future, sometimes compel commercial drivers
to overstretch themselves to disastrous limits dragging
their passengers along with them.
Mr
Dimake who is also the facilitator-consultant of a pilot
Social Security project for drivers in Hohoe in the Volta
region, made these observations at the launch of the project
at Ho.
“There is no respect for the labour law and social security
law in the transport industry and the frustrations these
bring to drivers contribute seriously to road accidents”, he
asserted.
Mr
Dimake said it was therefore wrong to limit the causes of
road accidents to drunk-driving, over-speeding, overloading,
defective tires, and wrongful overtaking “without
considering the conditions under which drivers work”.
He
said an effective enforcement of PNDC Law 247 on Social
Security for commercial drivers could help reduce the
pressure under which they work and hence bring about a
reduction of road accidents in the country.
Mr
Noble John Appiah, Executive Director of the National Road
Safety Commission (NRSC), said accidents were preventable
and that they reflected a failure in the system.
Launching the project, Mr Robert Joseph Mettle-Nunoo, deputy
Minister of Roads and Highways said a 2008 research by the
NRSC indicated that one way to help reduce and prevent road
traffic crashes in the country is to improve the welfare and
working conditions of drivers.
He said though long overdue the project was a welcome
initiative, given “this critical phase of our national
development effort”, and hoped it would be adopted
countrywide.
“We will do all things possible to ensure that those of our
compatriots outside the social safety net do not continue to
be left outside”, he said.
GNA
