Over 150 personnel from the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD), of the Ghana Police Service in the Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions have received training on road safety management and regulations.

The training covered drinking and driving at workshops held by Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited (GGBL), in collaboration with the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC).

The two-day workshops held in Accra and Kumasi were in fulfilment of the beverage business’ agenda to create a positive role for alcohol in society through partnerships.

GGBL hopes that the training will control the misuse of alcohol while contributing to the UN-SDG target 3.6 which focuses on halving the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents.

Speaking on the rationale for the workshop, Gabriel Opoku-Asare, Corporate Relations Director said GGBL has over the years developed partnerships with the police, local authorities and other agencies that support road safety and enforcement.

“By this workshop, we seek to highlight the need for strict enforcement of the alcohol limits in Ghana so as to mitigate the occurrence of road traffic accidents and injuries,” he said.

“Our purpose as a business is to help people celebrate life, every day, everywhere and by that, we want to ensure that people are being responsible when they drink especially when they are going to drive,” he stated.

He added that over the last five years, GGBL has committed resources to educate commercial drivers on the danger of drink driving through its behavioural change campaign, Twa Kwano Mmom (Go the distance rather).

“During the last two (2) years of our Drink Drive campaign, we have partnered the MTTD to enforce the blood alcohol limit as a way of deterring the use of alcohol while driving because we believe drinking and driving are incompatible. Already we have seen some stations self-regulating; a positive outcome of our efforts where we see these drivers holding themselves to account”, he noted.

ACP Anderson Fosu-Ackaah, Greater Accra Regional Commander of the MTTD, commended Guinness Ghana for organizing the workshop, which he believed will enormously benefit personnel of the MTTD; adding, “Guaranteeing that on our roads are safe from road accidents and injuries is an integral part of our work and we are ready to support efforts to reduce the incidence of drink driving among drivers”.

Mr. Henry Asomaning, Planning Officer at the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), who highlighted the state of road safety in Ghana indicated that road safety is a shared responsibility and demanded that all stakeholders played their part in ensuring that the incidence of road traffic accidents and injuries in Ghana is brought to the barest minimum.

Since 2013, GGBL has trained over 20,000 commercial drivers on the dangers of drink driving in over 12 transport terminals across the country, along with over 6,000 students as part of its Leadership in Alcohol in Society initiatives.