The Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) is calling for an urgent amendment to the Road Safety Act (2012) to ensure the implementation of a mandatory towing policy to reduce accidents on Ghana’s roads caused by faulty vehicles.

GJA indicated that it will play an advocacy role to ensure that the Act is amended to fully achieve its objectives.

Speaking on the sidelines of a capacity building workshop for journalists on road safety reporting, President of the GJA, Albert Kwabena Dwumfour said the statistics of crashes caused by broken down vehicles were worrying and thus need to be urgently addressed.

“There is a need as journalists to champion the course and the initiative to see to the amendment of the regulation [Road Safety Act (2012)] because as we speak now, we are still working with the 2004 regulation. It is only when we amend this regulation that will bring about a mandatory towing system to reduce the crashes we record on our roads”.

“The statistics indicate that most of the accidents on our roads are caused by broken-down vehicles on our roads so once we are able to advocate for this mandatory towing regulation, it will reduce accidents on our roads.”

On the other hand, the Director General of the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), Engineer David Osafo Adonteng said his outfit will work in collaboration with stakeholders to court support for the mandatory towing policy.

“We will engage the GJA and also engage the media to achieve our objective of winning public support for the implementation of the mandatory road towing levy to reduce road crashes.”