Provisional Statistics for the first quarter of 2024 in the Central Regional as indicated by the National Road Safety Authority testify that road carnages in the country have risen more than that of the first quarter of last year’s statistics.
This calls for more road enforcement work by road enforcement agencies. Because of this, the mother of all insurance companies in the country, the National Insurance Commission (NIC) Central Regional Office has donated vests to the Agona Swedru Divisional of the MTTD to motivate them to go about their daily activities.
Donating the vests to MTTD, as part of a week-long sensitization by the National Insurance Commission in the area, the Central Regional Manager of the NIC, Nicholina Naa Yeye Adumuah, noted that the Commission has over the past years been supporting the MTTD through training and some items like the reflectors, cadaver pouch or human remains pouch (HRP), and phones to aid their daily activities as expected.
Madam Nicholina Adamuah, the President of the Chartered Insurance Ladies Association and the country director for the African Insurance Women Association (AIWA), noted with regret that the carelessness and negligence of some drivers on our roads, lack of proper maintenance of vehicles and the bad roads have caused the nation to lose some irreplaceable human resources, parents and students.
What makes the situation worrisome, according to her, is the activities of ‘charlatans’ who issue fake insurance stickers to drivers or car owners. These deeds, she lamented, make it difficult or impossible for accident victims to claim insurance compensation easily from vehicles that have been involved in the accident.
She, therefore, expressed the hope that support from the NIC to the MTTD will go a long way to motivate the police to arrest vehicles with expired or fake insurance stickers.
A four-hour road operation by the road enforcement agencies, organized by the National Insurance Commission (NIC), brought together the National Road Safety Authority, DVLA, M-360, and the MTTD at vantage points in Agona Swedru, leading to the arrest of many vehicles whose drivers have either expired or fake insurance stickers. Some drivers who committed other minor traffic offenses were advised by the MTTD officers to do the right thing.
The Central Regional Manager of the NIC, Nicholina Naa Yeye Adamuah, who was heard and seen advising both passengers and drivers via radio broadcasts and on the road expressed regret about the failure of drivers to heed the dos and don’ts on the road. She cited instances where toddlers were seen on the laps of their parents in the front seats, driving with either defaced or raised car registration plates, overloaded cars, and the like as deeds that drivers and passengers abhor.
She also asked drivers and passengers to ensure that the vehicles they find themselves in have genuine insurance stickers by simply dialing the NIC short code *920*57# to the registration numbers of the respective car numbers with their mobile phones. Madam Nicholina Adamuah warned issuers of fake insurance stickers to desist from the nefarious deeds to avoid arrest.
Madam Nicholina Adamuah noted that ensuring sanity on the road is a shared responsibility.
Hence, it should not be seen as the sole responsibility of road enforcement agencies. She also asked the citizenry to desist from reading political meanings into the operation of the road enforcement agencies, saying road crashes know no political colours.
