The Novotel Drivers’ Union Welfare in Accra has called for the establishment of Station Watchdog Committees at all lorry stations to mount surveillance on vehicles at the stations to reduce road traffic accidents. The Committees should be along the lines of the Community Neighbourhood Watchdog Committees to check the road worthiness of vehicles, physical conditions of drivers on entry and arrival at stations and other relevant issues that affect performance of vehicles. Speaking to journalists at the Novotel Station in Accra, the Union, led by its President, Mr Harona Tamakloe, condemned the spate of accidents on the highways and appealed to the Government, individuals and other road user organizations to throw their weight behind the formation of the Watchdog Committees to make the idea a reality and success. According to Mr Tamakloe, most of the avoidable road accidents started from the lorry stations due to poor concentration as a result of quarrels between drivers, mates and passengers, fatigue and drunkenness. Mr Tamakloe condemned the sale of alcohol at lorry parks and stations, and wondered why the Accra Metropolitan Authority (AMA) still allowed a transport operator to run a station in the Kinbu Gardens when the Union had constantly pointed out that the running of a restaurant, where hard liquor was sold to drivers, was not good for safe driving. According to Mr Tamakloe, the flurry of criminal activities at the precincts of the Kinbu Gardens had scared many customers away from patronizing the Novotel Station. Numerous complaints to the security agencies, including the Regional Police Command, the Accra Central and the Ministries Police Stations had been to no avail. Rather the Police often ask them to arrest the criminals themselves and hand them over. “How dare I arrest a supposed criminal at Kinbu? Do the Police want the criminals to kill me?” Mr Tamakloe queried, and added that the criminals hide in wooden structures at the station to carry out their activities. “Arrest them, bring them ourselves to the Police Station, and inform the police? The Police are aware that can never be done,” Mr Tamakloe said. According to Mr Tamakloe, the criminals robbed especially foreigners, of their money, cameras, and mobile phones and the Union at times had to pay the victims’ fares for them. “We want the national security apparatus to act fast to redeem the image of the station,” Mr Tamakloe said, and called on the AMA to relocate the Kinbu Market. Mr Tamakloe also appealed to transport owners to cease harassing drivers to meet their sales targets at all costs, explaining that it was a recipe for accidents. Source: GNA