Abbas Ibrahim Moro is Head of Communications at the Ghana Private Road Transport Unit (GPRTU)
• Commercial drivers have been blamed for causing a lot of road crashes
• Commercial drivers usually do not get formal training in driving
• The GPRTU says the claims they contribute to a lot of crashes is unfortunate
The Head of Communications at the Ghana Private Road Transport Unit (GPRTU), Abbas Ibrahim Moro, has stated that even though their members are usually not formally trained in driving, that does not translate into their experiences on the roads.
According to him, there have been little to no accidents experienced by their members and so it is unfortunate that they would be described as “so-called professional drivers.”
Abbas Moro was speaking on GhanaWeb’s first Webinar series on Road Safety as part of activities under its Road Safety Campaign project.
The virtual conference includes stakeholders who have been carefully selected to discuss viable ways of curbing the road accident canker on Ghana’s roads.
It is on the theme, “Losing the road safety battle – what can be done now?”
“It’s just unfortunate that Dr. Sasu described the private drivers the way he did because anybody who drives and hits the road is a driver and most of the time, it is even the private vehicles who even cause most of these accidents.
“The way the industry was started, we have most illiterates as professional drivers but let’s ask ourselves that any time accidents occur, does it come from these illiterates or does it come from the trained drivers that he is referring to? The answer is no because most of these illiterate drivers are the ones who drive perfectly and they drive very well and so he can’t describe professional drivers as so-called professional drivers,” he said in response to a comment by the MTTD representative during the webinar.
Abbas Ibrahim Moro further clarified that admittedly, most of their drivers do not formally get training before hitting the roads to drive but it is unfair they are categorized as somewhat unprofessional or unfit for the roads.
“Of course, most of our drivers do not go through the current driving schools that they are supposed to go through but most of them have not even recorded a single accident before. Let’s ask ourselves, are the laws being enforced?” he said.
The discussions are being moderated by the GhanaWebRoadSafety Ambassador, Bice Osei Kuffour, and GhanaWeb Managing Editor, Daniel Oduro.
Panelists joining the discussions include the Director of Planning and Programs at the NRSA, Ing David Osafo Adonteng; Asst Divisional Officer Grade 1 of the GNFS, Ezra Kpakpo Mingle; the Director of Metro Transit and Traffic Directorate, Dr. Samuel Sasu-Mensah; Emergency Medicine Specialist, Clinical Coordinator at Korle Bu, Dr. Henry Bulley; and a DVLA Compliance Officer, Kofi Ansah.
Watch the webinar here: