MPs advocate wearing of car seat belts


Members Parliament have called on the Police to arrest and prosecute both drivers and passengers who refuse to wear seat belt when on board any moving vehicle.


According to them, there must severe sanctions including spot fines, for any occupant who do not wear a belt, in a moving vehicle, be it for short or long distance, in line with the existing laws.

In a statement on the floor of Parliament, the Member of Parliament for Kintampo South in The Brong Ahafo Region, Felicia Adjei, asked for full implementation of the Legal Instrument that gave powers to the Police and the DVLA to ensure every motor vehicle has seat belts.

She said, seat belts are basically to secure and protect occupants of a vehicle against any harm during vehicular accident. 

According to her, "Ghana, like most other countries, has over the years experienced a number of road accidents. According to the National Road Safety Commission, in the year 2016 alone, a total of 11,378 road crashes or accidents were recorded involving 17,746 vehicles.” Out of these, there were 12,154 casualties with 1,990 people losing their lives.


She noted that the record never shows the number of occupants who failed to wear seat belt, but she said, "…we cannot rule out the harm that can be caused when vehicle occupants do not wear their seat belts."

Sharing her personal experiences on the floor, Madam Felicia recounted that, "exactly a year ago. I was involved in a near fatal car accident, which would have claimed my life had it not been that I had fastened my seatbelt. That explains my passion and continuous engagement of others to use seatbelts anytime they are on-board a vehicle."


The MP however, called for strict adherence to Road Traffic Act, 2004 (Act 683) and other laws of Ghana that makes non- wearing of seat belt a punishable offence.

She again appealed to his colleague MPs, Religious Leaders, Transport Unions, Drivers of both private and commercial vehicles, Media Organizations and Opinion Leaders to lead the campaign on the need to wear seat belts to avoid preventable deaths on the road.

Story: Francis Edzorna Mensah
GBCONLINE