STEPS TO CURB ROAD ACCIDENTS INTENSIFIED (PAGE 20)

THE EASTERN Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) George Anko-Bil has outlined a number of measures to be instituted to reduce the high rate of motor accidents in the region.
The measures include the removal of all breakdown vehicles along the roads, especially the accident-prone Nkawkaw-Apedwa stretch of the Accra-Kumasi highway and a directive for long distance vehicles from the Northern Regions and beyond to be manned by two drivers.
In an exclusive interview at Koforidua over the weekend, DCOP Anko-Bil said under the measures which would soon take off, his outfit would get in touch with a motor vehicle recovery company to tow all breakdown vehicles along the roads, especially the Nkawkaw-Apedwa stretch of the Accra-Kumasi Highway which he said had become dangerous for motorists.
He stated that since driver fatigue had also led to most of the accidents on the Eastern Region portion of the Accra-Kumasi highway, the police was studying the possibility of contacting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the Interior Ministry to get in touch with drivers’ unions in the neighbouring countries to ensure that vehicles from such countries were manned by two drivers.
Apart from those measures, DCOP Anko-Bil said his outfit had always positioned policemen at vantage points throughout the region to ensure that drivers conformed to traffic regulations.
The regional commander, however, appealed to motorists to be abreast of the rules to help reduce accidents and also save themselves from prosecution.
He directed police personnel assigned on patrol duties to maintain discipline on the roads, stressing that the travelling public should also help check undisciplined drivers since “it is our collective responsibility to ensure sanity on the roads”.