Sales target” by car owners is the cause of many accidents on Ghana roads

The acting District Chief Executive officer of Garu, Emmanuel Avoka has stated the many vehicular accidents on our roads especially at the northern belt is as a result of the target sales car owners expect from drivers.

In recent times, there have been several accidents in the northern part of the country which involves travelling buses to the north from the north.

Mr Avoka speaking in an interview following the incessant accidents noted that the high vehicular accidents on the roads are caused by the high target expectation from car owners which leave driver with no option than to rush while driving just to meet their targets.

“One of the reasons for which a driver would like to make a u-turn to Kumasi or Garu would be that the vehicle owner has given the driver an amount of GHS10,000 to produce within a week. And then whatever is surplus from the travels within that week becomes the salary of the driver.

So the driver has to go through a lot of fatigue and sleepless nights to ensure he makes about 4 to 5 trips within the 7 days of the week. And you’re aware that these are buses with just a single driver. You can be sure that driver fatigue is going to be prime; and when driver fatigue sets in, then sleep takes over.

Because of the stress that is put on the drivers by the vehicle owners, they resort to drinking substances that will keep them awake throughout the week to be able to at least raise about GHS12,000 so they can pay GHS10,000 to their vehicle owners. He said.

The acting DCE revealed that he has taken steps to resolve this with the car owners and the drivers in a scheduled meeting with the commercial cars which operate within the Garu area. He said vehicle owners who fail to attend the meeting will not be given the opportunity to have their vehicles operate commercially.