The National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) has developed a National Road Safety Policy with the view to promoting road safety and reducing accidents in the country. The development of the policy makes Ghana the second African country, after South Africa, to have such a blueprint to address road traffic accidents and road safety issues. All government institutions will be required to adhere strictly to the provisions of the policy, which is an enhancement of the National Road Safety Strategy. It provides guidance on research, training, education, engineering and other interventions required to promote road safety in the country. The Executive Director of the NRSC, Mr Noble Appiah, who made this known to the Daily Graphic, said the policy would give direction towards reducing road traffic accidents. He said the NRSC would distribute copies of the policy to various institutions to facilitate its implementation. Mr Appiah said previously there had been no comprehensive strategy on road safety "but today, for the first time in many years in this country, we have developed one based on data, with all stakeholders On board". He said since the establishment of the NRSC, there had been a tremendous reduction in road traffic accidents in the country. Mr Appiah said global trends indicated that whenever there was an increase in vehicular population by 5.5 per cent, it automatically translated into an increase in road traffic accidents. He, however, noted that although vehicular population in the country had increased by more than 100 per cent from 500,000 in 2000 to about 1.1 million at the moment, the number of people who died in road traffic accidents within the period only increased from 1,600 to 1,800. "Had it not been for our efforts, with the help of all the stakeholders, the situation as we see it today would have been worse," he said. Source: Daily Graphic