RSMSL makes strides in road safety

The Road Safety Management Services Ltd. (RSMSL), a Ghanaian-owned private firm was established to manage the spate of road accidents in Ghana – in response to the national call by the late President H.E. John Evans Atta Mills for public-private partnership towards the reduction of road traffic accidents on the country’s roads.

The company has acquired state-of the-art tow trucks as well as ambulances for the effective management of accidents on the roads. The tow trucks will be used in towing abandoned vehicles on the roads, whereas the ambulances will provide immediate medical attention to accident victims. The road safety management initiative is expected to employ, as many as four thousand people to occupy various fields in the road safety drive.

Under the aegis of the Government of Ghana and with support from the National Road Safety Commission and Ghana Police Service, the Road Safety Management Services, a subsidiary of the Jospong Group of Companies was launched on Wednesday, 22nd February 2012. The mandate of RSMSL requires the firm to manage and reduce to the barest minimum the rate of road casualties on the roads. The firm has specialization in towing services, ambulance services and the installation of rest stops/depots to along the highways to respond to traffic accidents as well as the recruitment of personnel to undertake diverse function in road safety management.

As part of its recruitment drive and in conjunction with the National Youth Employment Scheme and Ghana Police Service, RSMSL has already recruited 1,500 youth being the first batch of 3,000 persons to be employed all over the country as Road Safety Management Task Force (RSMT), to assist the Police in promoting road safety and security.

In November 2011, The Motor Transport and Traffic Unit (MTTU) and the National Road Safety Commission, under the organization of RSMSL, organized special training sessions for the first batch of personnel recruited as RSMTs.
RSMSL, in March 2012 made a presentation of a brand new Toyota Navarra to the National Road Safety Commission to facilitate their efforts in ensuring that roads and transportation in Ghana become incident-free.

The company also organized and presided over a three week training course in ‘Safe Driving and Towing Techniques’ which was organized in collaboration with Guandong Yuehai Motor Vehicle Ltd from China, under the auspices of the National Road Commission and the MTTU.

On 3rd April 2012, the first batch of fifty drivers completed the specialized training and graduated into full operation of the tow trucks. The drivers are well-trained to operate the highly sophisticated tow trucks that were acquired from China worth $272,000 each and the trained drivers are also imparting enough knowledge to train other yet-to-be-trained drivers of the tow trucks.

RSMSL, on April 16th, 2012 acquired and delivered thirty eight (38) new sophisticated tow trucks to all the ten regions of Ghana. Three different categories of tow trucks have been acquired from China with the most expensive truck costing $272,000. The tow trucks are to be used in towing abandoned vehicles and trucks on the roads in order to prevent road carnage.

Road Safety Management Services in conjunction with the National Road Safety Commission, the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit and the Ministry of Transport – presided over the distribution of the new tow trucks to all the regions in Ghana.

Six of the trucks were allocated to the Ashanti Region, four to the Eastern Region, four to Western Region, two each to the Upper East and Upper West Regions respectively. Three of the trucks went to the Northern Region, two to the Brong Ahafo Region, ten to the Greater Accra Region and two assigned to the Volta Region.

Fifty (50) additional modern tow trucks in three different categories have been ordered. On arrival, they will be distributed also to the regions – This will go a long way to improve on the efficiency and effectiveness of the towing services in Ghana.

The tow truck service under Road Safety Management Services, will be working in collaboration with the Ghana Police Service in all the regions to ensure that the roads are safe and devoid of accidents. Abandoned trucks and vehicles on the road have been confirmed to be one of the major causes of road carnage in Ghana which culminates in the loss of valuable lives and properties- which is adversely affecting productivity in the country.

On 20th April 2012, in a short ceremony witnessed by management and staff of Jospong Group of Companies, RSMSL and a section of the media, five distinguished personalities were sworn in as members of the new Board of Directors for Road Safety Management Services Ltd.

The Board of Directors includes Mr. Joel E. Nettey as Chairman, Mr. Alex Kwadjo Boateng as a member of the Board and Mr. Inusah Musah, also as a member of the Board. The rest are the Managing Director of RSMSL, Air Commodore Dery as member of the Board and Mrs. Gifty Ofori as secretary of the Board.

The mandate of the Board was not to be involved in the day-to-day activities of the company but to formulate policies, oversee the right recruitment of personnel and set achievable targets for the company.