Street Sense Organisation Officially Launched
Street Sense Organisation (SSO), a non-governmental organisation championing road safety has been launched at a colourful ceremony in Accra.
The event was attended by key stakeholders in the transport sector including representatives from the Ministry of Transport (MoT), the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), and the Motto Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service among others.
The official launch of SSO was done through the unveiling of the organisation’s logo by the chairperson for the occasion, Madam Bertha Ansah Djan, Executive Chairman of Pergah Transport Company and DSP Alex K. Obeng, Director of Education & Training for Police MTTD. They were assisted by Mrs. Jane Frances Lavoe, Wife of the Founder and Executive Chairman of SSO; Mr. Eric Gasper Afeletey, Vice Chairman of SSO; and Mr. Samson Oddoye, a Trustee member of SSO.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Executive Chairman of SSO, Mr. Oswald Lavoe, said despite some progress over the years, road safety still remains a great national concern that requires collaborative and concerted efforts to promote it.
"Statistics on road crashes in Ghana is startling and worrying, and we cannot just sit with folded arms and watch thousands of innocent souls perish through accidents without taking any actions," he stated.
According to him, the organization seeks to be an effective partner in road safety issues in Ghana with a mission to provide education, increase awareness and empower people to bring about sanity on the roads.
“We also aim at educating road users, drivers, pedestrians and motorists on prohibitive informative and directional signs; rights and responsibilities of road users; rules and regulations governing the use of the road, among others,” he added.
Recounting the incidents that led to the formation of SSO, Mr. Lavoe said he was motivated to set up the organisation because he was once an accident victim and it took a taxi driver and a lady to save his life and has since then believed that if accident victims get immediate medical attention, their lives could be saved.
“Since that personal experience, I always wanted to do something to help accident victims to save their lives, hence the formation of the SSO in 2014,” Mr Lavoe said.
He called on all stakeholders in the road sector to join forces together to help reduce road accidents in the country.
Speaking at the ceremony, DSP Alex K. Obeng expressed worry over the increasing road accidents in Ghana, indicating that a total of 2,890 road crashes were recorded for the first quarter of 2017, as against 2,830 recorded over the same period in 2016.
He said the number of vehicles involved in these crashes rose from 4,088 to 4,802, with 510 people deaths as against 485 deaths recorded in 2016, and attributed 70 percent of these crashes to lack of maintenance of vehicles and irresponsible driving such as over speeding and wrongful overtaking.
The statistics, according to DSP Obeng, “is scary and we need to come together to partner the government to address it.”
DSP Obeng emphasised that his outfit was committed to working with various stakeholders towards the realisation of United Nations Decade of Action on Road Safety.
He commended the SSO for its foresights and pledged the MTTD's preparedness to support the organisation in achieving its objectives.
In her closing remarks, the chairperson, Madam Bertha Ansahg Djan, urged the public to put their shoulders to the wheel to reduce the carnage on the country’s roads.
She courted the support of the corporate world for the organisation as everyone, irrespective of status, was vulnerable to road accidents.