A partnership to make it mandatory for commercial drivers to undergo a yearly refresher course that covers all aspects of road safety including education on alcohol has been signed. The pact signed in Accra is between GGBL and the National Drivers Academy (NDA), the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) and government stakeholders with Alpha To Omega Motoring of the United Kingdom with expertise from the Drivers Metrics within Cranfield University in the UK. It is under the auspices of the Ministry of Transport. All commercial drivers seeking to obtain or renew their license are mandated to attend the annual refresher course with NDA. Speaking at the official launch of the partnership at the plush Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra last Friday, Mr. Noble J. Appiah, Executive Director of the NRSC said, “The Road Safety Traffic Act 2004, Act 683 provides that the Minister may by legislative instrument make Regulations for the effective implementation of this Act and in particular for prescribing of the issue and particulars of driving licenses among others. The NRSC is by law the lead statutory agency charged with the responsibility to manage road safety”. “Ghana has a population of 24 million and with less than 2 million registered vehicles, the country records more than 14,000 road traffic crashes a year. There are many factors that contribute to road traffic crashes. Driver attitudes and education, car maintenance, design of roads and driving under the influence are some of the key areas of concern. At the NRSC we seek to partner persons and institutions that do not only complain but actively do something about the situation on our roads. In Ghana we have all the institutional arrangements for road safety management, the NRSC Boss added. The Executive Director of NDA, Mr. Etse Ladzekpo said, “Driver competence or lack thereof accounts for a vast majority of most road traffic crashes. Indeed, research finds that an overwhelming 90% of road crashes are the result of human factors. Attitudes and risk perception significantly impact on the causes of road traffic crashes and on driving behavior. Simply put, drivers with inappropriate attitudes, rather than poor vehicle handing and road reading skills, are most likely to crash”. “It is my cherished hope that this historic partnership between GGBL and the NDA, and the attendant dissemination and assimilation of knowledge, in this Decade of Action on Road Safety, will foster the emergence of a renaissance driver and rider, in effect, a born-again road user, with a sense of individual social responsibility firmed up by medical facts, myths debunked and information provided in a culturally relevant format”, Mr. Etse added “This partnership between GGBL and the NDA could be the forerunner to other initiatives that put road safety education as a burning platform for all institutions of human endeavour: school, colleges and work places, we should all promote safety, at all cost”, the NDA Boss concluded. The partnership signed between Mr. Peter Ndegwa, Managing Director of GGBL, Mr. Noble J. Appiah, and Executive Director of the NRSC and Mr. Etse Ladzekpo, Executive Director of NDA, was endorsed and witnessed by the Minister of Transport, Alhaji Collins Dauda. The transport Minister said, “Government is committed to addressing the challenges we face as a country around road safety and the implications this has on our public health as well as development. I welcome the partnership of GGBL and NDA to promote road safety in the country.” About two weeks ago, NDA signed MOU with MASLOC to provide refresher course to its drivers.