Zonda Tec Ghana Ltd., a professional heavy duty vehicle trading company has organized Road Safety Education and Training for drivers as the Easter festivities draw near.
The training forms part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in building the capacity of drivers from various companies and institutions so as to help reduce road crashes on our roads.
The training was carried under the theme; “Accident-Free Easter: The Role of Drivers And Road Users” as part of efforts to improve the skills and attitudes needed for vehicle safety, heavy and light duty drivers.
Speaking at the training program, Gabriel Adu Sarfo of the National Road Safety Authority, urged the drivers to exhibit professionalism when driving.
He took the drivers through the causes of road crashes, stressing the nature and conditions of the roads, over speeding, ignorance of road traffic regulations, overloading, inattentiveness, loss of control, drunk driving as some possible causes of road crashes.
Gabriel Adu Sarfo cautioned the drivers against talking on mobile phones whilst driving because conversations during driving can disrupt their concentrations.
“It is very important for you to ask these important questions when you are on the road and you want to take certain decisions; Ask yourself is this necessary? Is this legal? Is this safe? When your answers are negative then, don’t try it. This applies to any action you want to take be it overtaking, over speeding,” he said.
He also taught the drivers to adhere to the law. He indicated that when it comes to fatigue driving, it is necessary to take into account what the law says which is for drivers of their status to have at least 7hours of good sleep and must not drive continuously for 8 hours.
“You must break within every 4 hours. That is what the law says,” he said.
“When demonstrating professionalism, you should think safety first, and follow the rules and regulations to avoid any incident. Over 90-95% of accidents in Ghana are human factor, therefore as professionals, you should make zero tolerance of accident your target.”
Gabriel Adu Sarfo also mentioned that drivers must also become agent of change, by avoiding over speeding; adding that “The speed requirement is based on the fact that if you get to human predominant area, you should do a speed of 30 kilometres per hour and when you get to the cities you can do 50. You can only do 100 when you get to the motorway, that is the highest you can go based on our road networks research. We advise the drivers to just adhere to the rules and make our road safer.”
Head of Human Resource and Administration at Zonda Tec Ghana, Daniel Amoah, stated that the training session was part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility, and it aimed to provide the drivers with the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for vehicle safety both as a driver and a pedestrian.
By PROSPER AGBENYEGA
