Monday, August 31, 2009

“National Drivers’ Academy” to be established

A consultative workshop has been held in Accra to dialogue among stakeholders within the transport industry on the establishment of a National Drivers Academy. The proposed drivers’ training school is aimed at providing formal and structured training for commercial vehicle drivers to improve competence, professional ethics and general good conducts on the road to prevent possible road accidents.
The school to be known as the “National Drivers’ Academy” is an initiative of the National Road Safety Commission in collaboration with the Driver and vehicle licensing authority (DVLA) and Government Technical Training Centre(GTTC) . In the management of the school, GTTC will be the solitary managers of the institute and shall be responsible for the registration of participants, resource mobilization, training and development.
On the other hand, examination and certification will be done by the NSRC and other relevant stakeholders in accordance with the national vocational training framework and regulations. Students are to taking through vocational oriented courses and will be centre on professional ethics and road safety by seasoned road safety practitioners.
Speaking at the workshop last week, the minister of Transport commended the three institutes for their enormous initiative especially in support to road safety in the country. Mike Hammah said, “Studies revealed that human errors during driving is a major cause of road crashes representing 60% of all road accidents and also a contributing factor in over 90% of accidents, if its for these and other related reasons I commended you all for your efforts”.
Mr.Hammah urged all transports operator, union and drivers to take advantage of the opportunity of the academy to help upgrade their knowledge, skills and road user behaviour.
The Chief executive officer of the National Road safety Commission said the multi-disciplinary nature of road safety problem requires that all stakeholders should show concern and commitment. Mr. Noble Appiah reiterated that, “the multi stakeholder and multi disciplinary characteristics of road safety creates a platform for all of us to show commitment and passion towards road safety as nobody is immune to road traffic crashes” . Let’s all support programs and activities of the NRSC to enable the country achieve its strategic objectives for road safety.
Story by: Michael Amedor

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pianki wrote: That will be a great move. This regulatory method should expand into other sectors.

Ethan Rehman said...

Aside from stricter road rules, driving schools like this can also impart defensive driving techniques to communities. Those would be especially useful for citizens who drive larger vehicles and motorcycles. I hope the tuition there is subsidized so all drivers can also be made aware of the proper ways to drive.