The National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) to team up with The Ghana Police Service to ensure maximum safety on our roads targeting speeding drivers before, during and after this year’s Easter festivity.
This was made known by the Acting Director General of the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), Ing. David Osafo Adonteng during the launch of the “Stop Speeding” campaign in Accra ahead of the Easter.
The National Road Safety Authority, together with the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and with support from the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety launched the “Stop Speeding” mass media campaign to sensitize drivers on the need to follow speed limits to save lives.
The campaign reminds drivers to slow down during the Easter season, a peak travel period characterized with road crashes increase”.
Ing. David Adonteng reiterated the need for drivers not to over speed on the roads, “I believe strongly that this campaign, which is coordinated with massive speed enforcement, will help us change the narrative around road safety and record fewer crashes and fatalities on our roads. He stressed that Speed limits are in place to keep all road users safe—it is critical that they followed.”
Speed management according to him, remains one of the biggest challenges facing road safety practitioners around the world and calls for a concerted, long-term, multidisciplinary response.
He hinted that, speed directly influences the risk of a crash as well as the severity of injuries sustained, and the likelinood of death resulting from the crash.
“Speed management is essential to improving road safety, in Ghana.
The latest Status Summary Reports released by the Johns Hopkins International Injury and Research Unit shows that on local and collector roads in Accra and Kumasi, 92% and 89% of drivers over speed, respectively. This concerning percentage of speeding drivers emphasizes the need for stakeholders to work towards reducing speeds on our roads. However, improving compliance with speed limits is not an easy task. Many drivers do not recognize the risks involved and often the perceived advantages of speeding outweigh the perceived problems that can result.
Safe, reliable and affordable transit is important for people’s work and personal lives as well as for economic development”.
The “Stop Speeding” campaign he averred, focuses on the enforcement of speed limits and to disseminate messages on the dangers of speeding while police conduct significant enforcement operations.
The mass media campaign of the project, is to sensitize drivers heading for the Easter festivities on the need to slow down as they drive and increased police speed enforcement on the Kwahu road.
Other measures to support the successful implementation of the project is Television and radio publicity together with public service announcements (PSA) would be used to advise drivers to slow down or risk being arrested for speeding.
Furthermore, Out-of-home billboards and flyers, as well as stickers behind cars with the campaign’s message.
Social media publicity of all campaign PSA’s further cautioning motorists to slow down as they drive.
ATV PSA would be played in all long-journey buses traveling from Accra to other regions in the country.
Massive police enforcement in Accra, Kumasi and on some intercity highways would be operational.
The “Stop Speeding” campaign was developed as a result of data that shows the prevalence of speeding on roads in Ghana. The data shows that cars and SUV’s speed the most and pedestrians are the most affected during crashes. “The estimated 1.19 million people killed on the world’s roads each year indicates that roads are still being built to prioritize moving vehicles—not for moving people,” said Asmeret Nigus, Technical Advisor, Africa, for Vital Strategies’ Road Safety Program. “Safer streets for all is an attainable goal. But it requires governments to prioritize those most at risk—pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists—to reduce the likelihood and the severity of crashes.
We congratulate the National Road Safety Authority, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly on their joint efforts to launch the “Stop Speeding” campaign. Mass media campaigns paired with enforcement of traffic laws can motivate drivers to follow posted speed limits and make safer streets for everyone.
The Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS) works with the world’s leading road safety organizations to design strategies, implement activities and coordinate with in-country governmental and nongovernmental stakeholders.
Emphasis is placed on achieving outcomes, and on using high-quality monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to continually assess the program’s progress. BIGRS reflects Bloomberg Philanthropies’ vision that progress can be achieved both locally and nationally. Implementation of programs at the local level complements national level policy progress.
