The National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) has hired one hundred Road Safety Inspectors to enforce compliance with road safety rules.

At a meeting in Accra on Thursday, Head of Regulatory, Inspectorate and Compliance at NRSA, Mr Kwame Koduah Atuahene explained that hiring the safety inspectors is part of a comprehensive strategy to reduce the increasing cases of road crashes.

Mr Atuahene said among other things, these inspectors are required to examine equipment, inspect road safety facilities and check compliance with standards. "They will be able to order construction work on infrastructure, that does not comply with the road safety protocols, to be stopped and detain offenders", he added.

He explained that offending iinstitutions will either receive corrective or a prohibitive notice, "when you receive a corrective notice you correct what has been found to be a lapse whereas a prohibitive notice would require that you stop the offending activity."

The notice, Mr Atuahene explained, will clearly indicate the lapse and cite the part of the law which has been breached. "In some cases, the notice will come with a penalty that you ought to pay" he explained.

The meeting was held at a time when the latest statistics from the Motor Traffic and Transport Department of the Ghana Police Service indicate that 263 people lost their lives in road crashes in the month of April alone and 1,034 since January.

Also, 5,668 persons have been maimed as a result of road accidents in the first quarter of 2021.

The Director of Operations at MTTD, Dr Samuel Sasu Mensah in an interview with JoyNews said “road traffic accidents have been increasing at a fast rate. When we review the statistics, things are not looking good at all.”

“We have enforced the laws, increased public education and awareness creation but it doesn’t seem to be changing anything,” he said.

To ensure the inspectors contribute effectively towards curbing the spate of road accidents, Mr Atuahene said the NRSA will collaborate with Municipal, Metropolitan and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to enforce the rules.

"So for the assemblies, we may grant some authorisation for either the transport department or some skilled persons to assist with the inspections on matters that are within your purview," he told representatives of the MMDAs present at the meeting.

Mr Atuahene however explained that the assemblies will not issue prohibitive notices but can, in collaboration with the NRSA, issue corrective notices."

He further disclosed that a Legislative Instrument (LI) is being drafted to give legal backing to the actions of the inspectors and the NRSA.