The Head of Regulations, Inspection and Compliance at the National Road Safety Authority, NRSA, Kwame Koduah Atuahene, has urged Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives and the Ministry of Energy, to make the provision of functioning street lights and illumination of town centers and major highways a priority to reduce road accidents and highway robberies.
According to Mr. Koduah Atuahene, the current public outcry about inadequate street lighting should be a wake-up call on city managers to come up with immediate solutions to address this problem.
“As stakeholders in ensuring safety of road users in the country, it is critical for us all to make this issue a priority, especially as we prepare to enter the heavy traffic season and shopping period of the year”, Mr. Koduah Atuahene advised.
Mr. Koduah Atuahene was speaking after the mid-year review meeting of the NRSA in Takoradi at which a citation was awarded to him by the NRSA for his “Instrumentality in Advocating for the passage of the NRSA ACT 2019 (ACT 993) and his leadership in the Development of a Draft Legislative Instrument, (L.I.) to provide meaning and expression to the NRSA mandate”
He said the failure of some district assemblies to abide by their own established standards in city planning and provision of lighting on the streets and highways, pose a major risk to road users especially at night.
The NRSA’s Head of Regulations, Inspections and Compliance, suggested to law enforcement agencies to intensify patrols on roads and highways that have less illumination at night, hoping for a prompt action from the relevant agencies to solve what he called a “pressing issue”.
As Head of the NRSA Regulations, Inspections and Compliance Directorate, Mr. Atuahene is in charge of regulatory administration of the commercial road transport sector as well as enforcement of road safety standards, procedures and rules against duty bearers.
In this role, he leads the task of ensuring an improvement in quality of road safety-related services by all road safety stakeholders in both public and private sector.
He said the NRSA will continue to advocate for the proper usage and observance of road regulations by all road users as part of its mandate, stressing on the shared responsibility of all stakeholders; pedestrians, motorists, transport unions, law enforcement and city managers, in making the roads and highways safer for all.
Mr. Koduah Atuahene observed that in many cities, pedestrian walkways are non-existent and where available, they have been taken over by traders and exposing pedestrians to the risk of a crash in urbanized environments.
“Our law enforcement and city authorities must ensure that our roads are not turned into hawking and selling centers. The Authority will soon take the fight to city authorities to ensure that they deal with pedestrian obstructions within their jurisdiction for public good “, Mr Koduah Atuahene stressed.