National Road Safety Commission Urges Drivers To Report Accident   25-Mar-2013

The National Road Safety Commission has urged drivers to report accident scenes to the Ghana Police Service when their vehicles get involved in a road crash. Head of Communications at the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), Kwame Koduah Atuahene explaining some road safety measures that drivers should adopt when travelling, noted that the onus lies on any driver involved in an accident to consult with the Police Service in order to “assist the police in its investigations for purposes of prosecution.” Mr. Atuahene was speaking in relation to the recent accident involving Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, on the Bole-Bamboi road in the Northern Region. Two of Dr. Bawumia's vehicle tyres exploded during his travel from the Northern Region last Sunday, resulting a close lethal accident. There has since been several outcries particularly from the NPP scribe, Lawyer Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, who in the wake of event accused President John Dramani Mahama, National security and the government of colluding to claim the life of the party's 2012 election Running mate. Sir John as widely known, NPP General Secretary, unhappy with the turn of events expressed disappointment in the Police Service and so, alleged that they would not conduct thorough investigations to ascertain the exact cause of the accident. Hence, his decision to order the towing of the mangled NPP Veep’s brand new V8 Toyota Land Cruiser from the accident scene for the party to conduct its own investigations. Though Sir John later distanced himself from his claims that he had ordered for the car to be towed, he insisted that efforts by the Police to begin investigations into the road accident will come to nought. The NRSC Head of Communications speaking to Joy FM, outlined some reasons why people should not tamper with accident vehicles. He explained that the wreckages aid the Police to ascertain the “causes for purposes for policy reforms and also for purpose of insurance claims and their likes.” “If the vehicle is such that it is a safety risk, it is a threat to public safety at the time of accident…if the accident vehicle appears to be a public safety threat, they (Police personnel) can direct that it should be towed to a safe location,” he further said. He however was of the view that though Dr. Bawumia’s vehicle was towed from the accident scene before the Police could get access to the vehicle, “it will not affect substantially the works that they decide to do on it.”