Branch Chairman of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) at Garu in the Upper East Region, Gadafi Mohammed, has identified “fatigue driving” as the leading cause of road accidents involving buses from the area.
His comment follows a reported head-on collision between a bus carrying passengers from Kumasi to Garu and another bus from Zebila to Kumasi; killing over 18 persons and injuring several others.
Reacting to the unfortunate news in an interview with A1 Radio, Mr. Mohammed said tiredness especially on the part of bus drivers travelling from Kumasi to the northern sector of Ghana was the main contributory factor to road accidents.
“When the drivers get to Kumasi, instead of them to stay overnight so they can have some rest and return the following day, they rather go and start loading to come back the same day. That was the case of the bus from kumasi involved in the accident. They don’t sleep.” He lamented.
He further expressed concern over the situation where most buses travel long distances relying on one driver.
In order to deal with the carnage on our roads, Mr. Mohammed called on the leadership of the GPRTU branch in Kumasi to enforce regulations that will ensure drivers who arrive at their stations are not allowed to load passengers and return immediately.
He said “Any driver that comes and wants to return the same day, the GPRTU must make sure we don’t allow them to go. I spoke to my people in Kumasi to be very careful.”
Source: A1Radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Ghana
