A road safety campaign was on Monday launched in Yendi of the Northern Region to educate the public on the responsible roads use in order to avoid road crashes.
The main purpose of the programme is to educate the general public in Yendi and its surrounding communities on how to use the roads, following the construction of the Yendi main dual carriage road and the inner city roads.
The month-long campaign dubbed, ‘Our Roads, Our Safety, Our Lives, Our Future’ is a joint effort by Concerned Citizens of Yendi (CCY), the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) and Yendi Municipal Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service.
Launching the campaign here, the Deputy Coordinator of the Citizens Road Safety Programme (CRSP), Ustaz Abdulai Alhassan Baako, stated that over a decade now they had witnessed a number of accidents on the roads leading to casualties and injuries
This, according to him, the accidents were as result of road users in the area not familiar with the new roads, hence the road safety the campaign, adding that, “We have initiated the programme in order to curve the canker.”
The Coordinator added that their target was the general public, drivers, riders, pedestrians, School children and other road users on safe road practices, rules and regulations with focus on right of way, traffic rules, U-turns, navigation in roundabout, and emergency response techniques.
He further indicated that the campaign would also take them to both basic Junior High Schools and the Senior High Schools to educate them on how to use the roads accurately without any hitches.
Ustaz Baako, however, urged road users in the municipality to give them their maximum cooperation when they hit the street with the sensitisation campaign.
The Northern Regional Director of the NRSA, Mr Bawa Ghamsah, commended them for the initiative and affirm his office support them for the necessary education materials they need for the campaign.
Moreover, he said the campaign would also go a long to help his outfit educate the indigenes of Yendi and its surrounding communities to raise more awareness since Christmas Season was around the corner.
Mr Ghamsah stated that charismas season was noted for high travel speeds, overtaking, fatigue driving, driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, wrongful road crossings, among others, and their campaign came at the right time.
He applauded them and urged them to continue with the good work they were embarking and appealed to them not to make it “a –one-day- wonder.”
The representative of Ndan Ya-Na, Gagbeni Dana Alidu Iddrisu, gave his full blessing for the campaign and noted that the Ya- Na was solidly behind them in their efforts to sensitise the public on road safety.
He said the Ndan Ya-Na would rally his support for them anytime they needed his services.