The Ashanti regional Motor, Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) has received some speed checking devices to help in the fight against the rise in road crashes in the region as a result of over-speeding.
The receipt of the devices, according to the regional MTTD commander, Chief Superintendent Adu Boahen, will aid the police in “drastically reducing the spate of road crashes in the region.”
He said the devices unlike other speed checking gadgets available at the regional command currently, will help the police in evidence gathering.
“If you look at the type of the speed devices that have been brought here, these can capture the vehicle from afar, you can have a still picture, and it can also capture the video, so it makes the evidence gathering very easy. If you want to challenge it, there is an embedded chip that we can take it out, fix it into a computer and we play it, and then you yourself you agree or disagree as to whether or not what the police is saying is true or not.”
Reducing high road crashes
The seven speed checking devices donated by Bloomberg Philanthropies, a USA-based organisation, is part of its efforts made in some 29 cities across the world, noted to experience high road crashes.
According to the overseer of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS), Kelly Larson, the organisation aims to clamp down on road crashes globally through enhanced training and support.
“Road safety is part of the twelve-leading cause of death globally, and we recognise the important role cities play in implementing interventions that we know will save lives on city streets, so we are working with 29 cities across the world, and Kumasi and Accra are two of the 28 cities that we’re supporting to augment and enhance the road safety activities to save lives.”
The Kumasi City Mayor who was elated by the collaboration between BIGRS and the assembly said the intervention of the BIGRS has since the previous year improved chances of saving more lives, and “I believe that in the long run, it is going to help the city, mobility, safety of life and all that”.
The Regional MTTD Commander also took the opportunity to warn road users to be wary of negative road safety practices on the roads, assuring that the police will deal with all culprits that are caught on the police surveillance cameras positioned at vantage points across the city.
“So let me take this opportunity to caution everybody, not even only the drivers, the pedestrians, the riders, or if you are criminal don’t think that the cameras are not working, apart from these cameras, there are other cameras fixed at certain intersections.”
“A lot of people make comments that these cameras that have been fixed at the city centres and other places do not work, let me tell you that they are working, I am not an expert, but I know that they are working, and sometimes we even receive pictures and videos from Accra, and we have prosecuted some of them”
“As I am speaking with you now, I even have some information and this time with the collaboration with DVLA, if we are able to get your vehicle number, we will be able to get the owner and the telephone number and we call you and tell you where to report, and then we process you and you go to court, when you fail, and we try on two or three occasions, then we proceed to court and we pray the court to give us advice or power to get you arrested.”
The Ashanti Region is part of the 4 regions with the most reported road crashes in the country in 2020 and 2021. The region has already seen 918 cases of road crashes reported to the MTTD, with 1545 and 288 vehicles and motorcycles respectively involved, 138 pedestrian knockdowns, 137 deaths.
Loretta Timah
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