Let road traffic regulations be your operating manual – Minister
Mr Kweku Ofori Asiamah, the Minister of Transport, has urged newly trained Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) drivers to be guided by the Road Traffic Regulations to ensure that road carnage was reduced to its barest minimum.
He told the drivers to obey the rules and regulations of the governing road transport industry and put to practice all defensive driving techniques anytime they sit behind the wheel.
Mr Asiamah made the call when the Government and Technical Training Centre (GTTC) held a Graduation Ceremony for 40 newly trained BRT drivers in Accra.
The Ministry, in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and the Ministry of Roads and Highways, is implementing a programme to introduce scheduled bus services in some major cities such as Accra, Kumasi, Sekondi-Takoradi and Tamale.
“Efforts are, therefore, aimed at promoting higher occupancy bus services in cities to reduce congestion and its attendant health and socio-economic cost,” he said.
He said due to the rapid changes that occurred in the transport industry, with the introduction of new vehicle technology, it was important that drivers are given periodic training in order to increase their understanding on the vehicles they drove.
Mr Asiamah added that there were now all sorts of electronic and safety devices embedded in today’s brands of vehicles, which required adequate technical knowledge and skills to operate.
He said, drivers, when equipped with the needed skills and techniques, could lead to increment in the up-time and enhance the efficiency of the vehicle.
Mr Emmanuel Kwafo Offei, the Acting Principal of Government Technical Training Centrw, said the Centre, since its establishment in 1968 as a model Institute following a Technical cooperative agreement between the Government of Ghana and the Federal Republic of Germany, operated with unique German methodology. Currently the Centre, he said, offered four main technical programmes; Auto Mechanics, Auto Electricals, Welding and Fabrication, and Auto Body Repairs.
Mr Offei said through a collaborative effort between GTTC, Scania and GIZ, the Centre had received tools from GIZ and other electronic equipment, and that it would soon refurbish the Centre’s workshop into an ultra-modern mechatronic one.
Source: GNA