Teaching road safety under Ghana’s educational system can help reduce road accidents and save lives, Mr Tonny-Dickson Afriford, a road safety expert has stated.
Mr Afriford said the earlier children learnt about road safety, the better prepared it would be for their safety in this area.
He said the education, which must include road safety as a subject in basic schools, would be a big step in changing the narrative on road carnage in Ghana.
Mr Afriford gave the suggestion in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), saying, the early introduction of road safety education could help shape the attitudes of children, enabling them to grow up to become careful pedestrians, passengers, and drivers.
“In countries like India, the Netherlands and Ireland, road safety is a topic on its own from the basic level because it is the development stage of the brain of a child, so whatever you put there, it will pick it up,” he said.
Mr Afriford said the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) already had a curriculum in place, but it was yet to be implemented by the Ghana Education Service.
However, Mr Abraham Amaliba, the newly appointed Director-General of the NRSA, had given an assurance that plans were underway to introduce road safety education as a subject at the basic school level.
Mr Afriford noted that the move would teach the pupils the basic rules of using the road, such as observing safety when crossing the street, the meaning of traffic lights and other signs, how to behave as passengers, reporting road safety issues and a lot more.
He also called for the formation of road safety clubs in schools and appointing ambassadors in schools, to constantly remind children of their safety and further check indiscipline on the road.
He called on religious organisations to teach their members road safety tips, to help reduce road crashes, which were killing most of the working populations.
Source: GNA
