MP WORRIED ABOUT MOBILE PHONE USAGE BY DRIVERS (PAGE 35)

THE Member of Parliament (MP) for Ahafo-Ano North, Mr Richard Akuoko Adiyia, has expressed concern about the usage of mobile phones by drivers when they are behind the steering wheel.
He said he had made a statement on the issue on the floor of Parliament, since that was one of the major causes of accidents on the roads. 
Mr Adiyia expressed the concern in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Kumasi.
  He said the country could not ignore such an unseen contributory factor to the rising chain of accidents on the roads.
 Mr Adiyia stressed the need for the government to channel more resources into road safety campaigns since public education was also necessary to minimise the carnage on the roads.
The MP said even though he was aware that there was no statistics to prove that the use of mobile phones while driving had been a major cause of accidents, he knew the government loses US$165 million annually on medical expenses on accident victims, damaged vehicles and insurance costs, representing 1.6 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
He paused to ask if making or receiving calls while driving could be a “friend or foe?”  
According to Mr Adiyia, some drivers boasted that they were able to combine mobile phone usage effectively while driving with hands freely on the gadgets without any eventualities.
Giving statistics of accidents recorded in the Ashanti Region by the Police Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU), he said in the first quarter of 2009, the region lost 469 lives through accidents as compared to 396 during the same period last year.
He said if such nasty trends continued in all the regions, within three years, half the population would have been lost.  
Mr Adiyia observed, “While we are looking for safe food to eat, we must equally look for safe vehicles to travel on.”
He advised travellers to carefully look at the condition of vehicles before boarding them.
Mr Adayia also urged motorists against fatigue, speeding, wrong overtaking and overloading, which were major causes of road accidents.