The first batch of 200 trained Road Safety Management Taskforce is being deployed to boost road traffic management in the country.

The Road Safety Management Services Limited (RSMSL) is collaborating with the Ghana Police Service and other interest groups to recruit about 3,000 personnel across the country.

The taskforce, will among other things, liaise with the police to protect life and property on the roads, patrol accident prone areas for prompt response in towing broken down vehicles and take charge of accident scenes to ensure sanity, aid injured persons and assist police in accident investigation.

The public-private sector partnership forms part of a strategic plan by the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) to provide efficient and effective road safety services and help reduce road fatalities.

Other initiatives include the establishment of the National Drivers’ Academy to train commercial drivers and the installation of speed cameras, which forms part of an integrated speed management programme.

Statistics indicate abandoned and disabled vehicles contribute about 21.8 percent of fatal road accidents in Ghana.

“The situation is worrisome on our highways – especially on the Accra-Kumasi highway – where not less than 40 disabled vehicles are found on a typical day positioned in life threatening locations of the various highways which pose fear and panic along such roads”, noted Kumasi Mayor, Samuel Sarpong who inaugurated the taskforce at a passing out ceremony at the Police Training School in Kumasi.

The RSMSL, since its launch in February 2012, has procured and deployed 38 heavy duty and recovery trucks at major accident roads to facilitate the removal of broken down vehicles.

The company will be acquiring 118 tow trucks of various categories by the end of year.

General Manager, Air Commodore Basin Dery (Rtd), said “huge investments have been made in the acquisition of state-of-the-art equipment and machinery, including trucks, ambulances, motor bikes, patrol wagons and pick-ups for traffic management”.

He believes the taskforce personnel will be good sources of intelligence to the police towards fighting crime and curtailing armed robbery on the roads.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh