Some members of the public are suggesting stiffer sanctions for drivers who flout road regulations to serve as deterrent and reduce carnage on the roads. Figures from the National Road Safety Commission indicate on the average, six people get killed daily, an average of 150 on a monthly basis, and about 1,800 yearly. Last Thursday, the nation woke up to one of the worst road accidents on the Accra-Kumasi highway in the Ashanti region which claimed 22 lives. It has been speculated that the accident like many others in the country, was caused by the drivers. Currently the law prescribes a minimum of three years jail term for drivers whose careless driving result in fatalities. Though members of the public would like to see drivers spend more years in jail, road safety stakeholders do not wholly buy the suggestion. A road safety advocacy group, Akwaaba Foundation strongly disagrees with calls for severer punishments for drivers who kill people in road accidents. Executive Director for the Foundation, Joseph Boakye Yiadom told Joy News every accident cannot be blamed on drivers, adding that educating road users about road safety is key. Drivers are not the only cause of road crashes in Ghana but said state institutions mandated to ensure road safety; vehicle owners; passengers and pedestrians all have a role to play in ensuring safety on the roads. Inasmuch as he wanted proper training for drivers, he also asked passengers to be committed to their personal safety. Joseph Boakye Yiadom expressed disappointment in the carefree manner some law enforcement institutions go about their work. “We know how our law enforcement agencies work; you have a drunk driver who would be allowed to drive by paying something.” According to the Director of Research, Monitoring and Evaluation at the National Road Safety Commission, David Osafo Adonten, irrespective of the number of years spent in prison, the most important thing is about attitudinal change, so that drivers “can perceive these dangers and act positively and professionally to prevent them… The matter is what to do to change their attitude”. He said the issue at stake is multidisciplinary in nature, and argued that accidents should not be attributed to drivers only. He said there is a national mandate for accidents involving five or more deaths to be subjected to in-depth investigations by an independent body and sometimes the findings published, noting that those at fault are duly dealt with. Mr Osafo Adonten said it was unfortunate that although the existing traffic regulations, which date back to 1974, have been revised for about four years now but has yet to be passed by parliament. “But I can assure you that a number of issues have been addressed in the regulations to the extent that if it should come out now, the police will now have the legal framework to enforce some of these regulations.”