The Minister of the Interior, Mr Martin Amidu, on Thursday charged the Ghana Police Service to device efficient ways of enforcing road traffic laws and regulations to reduce road accidents. He also appealed to the Minister of Transport to make vehicle registration data available to the Police to facilitate on the spot verification and authentication of driving and vehicle documentation. Mr Amidu said this during the National Police Command Conference on the theme: "Strategies to Effectively Deal with Road Traffic Management in order to Minimize Fatalities on our Roads." The occasion was also used to launch the blue print to deal with the causes of road accidents. He stated that: "Government still shares the view that human safety and security are not ends or goals in themselves, but should ultimately serve the wellbeing of the people." The Minister added that a well coordinated road safety strategy must be formulated and effectively implemented to stem the tide of avoidable incessant road traffic casualties. Mr Amidu echoed public outcry against road accidents, saying the country deserved better road safety management. He said the country needed an integrated approach to handle the quest for perpetual road safety that had eluded us, adding "lack of a well-knitted and coordinated approach is responsible for the current state of numerous accidents on our roads." Mr Paul Tawiah Quaye, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), said the conference would help prepare and devise strategies to deal with violence and crime during the impending District Assembly Elections. He said the Police Service was also poised to combat thefts and other crimes to ensure a peaceful festive Christmas and New Year season. He stated that the Police Service had a collective responsibility to ensure that the roads were safe and user friendly. IGP Quaye gave cold statistics of fatalities of road accidents during the first three-quarters of the year in which there were a total of 9,997 accidents nationwide. Out of this, 1,333 deaths were recorded and 9,728 persons were seriously injured. Ashanti Region topped the list of fatalities with 86 persons killed from 443 motor accidents involving 569 vehicles. The Greater Accra Region recorded 1,265 accidents, involving 1,955 vehicles which resulted in 75 deaths, with Upper East Region recording 10 deaths from a total of 28 accidents. The IGP restated the urgent need to equip the MTTU with patrol cars, which were swift, robust and well-equipped with communication gadgets that could travel the length and breadth of the major highways to check speeding, reckless and drunk driving, among others. He emphasised that the Police Service would do its best in the enforcement of the laws. Mr Quaye said a survey disclosed that 60 per cent of vehicle tyres used in the country were second hand which could not pass road safety tests in the countries they were imported from. In a speech read on his behalf, Transport Minister Mike Hammah said his ministry had put in place strategies to effectively deal with road traffic management to reduce the fatalities. Mr Hammah said we had to face the "reality and realization that money spent on road safety campaigns and education is an investment". He said road transport would remain the dominant mode of transport in the foreseeable future. "It is therefore incumbent on us to ensure that the provisions of such services are carried out to our benefit and not to our disadvantage." He reiterated that the Safety Campaign for accident-free Christmas would continue and called on all Ghanaians to be apostles of road safety as we prepare for the festivities. Mr Justice Amegashie, Chief Executive of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), said a number of drivers were driving vehicles over and above the class of license they held permitted. People were also driving whilst not licensed and with fake driver's license, thus causing accidents. He emphasised the need to ensure the use of roadworthy vehicles on the roads, educate vehicle owners and define their duties, responsibilities and other defects that could be avoided to reduce accidents. Source:GNA