The National Road Safety Commission and the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit of the Ghana Police Service have a lot of work to do to reduce the speed at which haulage trucks and commercial vehicles travel on roads in the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis.
Because of the Takoradi Port where raw materials such as cocoa, manganese, bauxite, timber and other goods are shipped to the international market, the roads are always busy.
Due to the inefficient rail system, haulage trucks have taken over haulage services, which hitherto were the prime source of activity for the Ghana Railway Company.
As a nation, exports are the mainstay of the economy and, therefore, haulage of materials by truck would be with us for a long time because the rail sector lacks the capacity to satisfy that demand.
But inasmuch as we have to depend on the road transport to meet such demands, it is prudent that haulage truck drivers travel within the required or acceptable speed limits.
The trucks should also have with them warning signals to warn other road users of danger in the event of a breakdown.
This is because the road has many sharp curves and the drivers need to be careful.
The situation on the Takoradi-Cape Coast-Accra road at present needs to be given urgent attention.
In these modern times truck drivers still use branches of trees as warning signals whenever these trucks break down on the way. This should be seriously checked because the practice has claimed many lives on countless occasions.
There are associations of haulers in the various port cities in the country, and they must from time to time invite the road safety commission and the MTTU to update the knowledge and skills of their members on road safety regulations.
The December national elections are just so close and many political parties and their followers are campaigning to solicit for votes. If care is not taken to educate haulage truck drivers and commercial drivers on how to conduct themselves on the roads there would be more fatalities than expected.
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