NRSC to introduce free towing service (22/06/09)

Story: Francis Yaw Kyei & Jennifer Dornoo
THE National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) is to introduce a free nation-wide commercial towing service to tow break down vehicles on roads within a shorter period.
NRSC indicated that annual fatality figures and injuries were caused by break down vehicles that were left unattended to.
It, therefore, organised a workshop with its stakeholders in the road industry to deliberate on how effectively to implement the project.
The stakeholders were the Motor and Traffic Transport Unit (MTTU), transport operators, towing companies, Ministry of Transport, road agencies, Judicial Service and the Ghana Bar Association.
They were expected to comment on the project, suggest other operational systems, legal systems and how to effectively sustain the project.
The Director of Research Evaluation and Monitoring at the NRSC, Mr David Adonteng, told the Daily Graphic that vehicle owners would be expected to pay a small fee periodically as insurance to run the service.
He said five companies would be identified and licensed to undertake this project in collaboration with the NRSC.
Each company, he said, would establish four corridors on the Accra-Kumasi-Sunyani road, the Accra-Eastern-Volta Region, Accra-Winneba-Cape Coast-Takoradi, and the Kumasi- Kintampo-Bolgatanga road.
Mr Adonteng said these companies would work effectively and arrive at every disabled vehicle within 30 minutes to an hour to tow it away.
He said a free toll communication system would be introduced for drivers to call those companies whenever they had any problem on the road.
The Managing Director of Pergah Transport, Ms Bertha Ansah Gjan, said road traffic crashes involving disabled vehicles were increasingly becoming a source of worry for road safety managers.
She said many times, heavily loaded trucks broke down whilst in traffic and drivers were left with limited choices at the expense of public safety considerations.
She said available data from the NRSC indicated that about 21 per cent of annual fatality figures and injuries were caused by heavy goods vehicles, many of which broke down and were left unattended to on the road..
Ms Gjan urged participants to come out with creative, practical, sustainable and cost effective means of managing the towing of break down vehicles.