Alhaji Idris urges passengers to compel drivers to take a rest

Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, Northern Regional Minister has urged passengers to compel drivers to take a rest when they showed signs of fatigue. He said it was necessary for drivers who plied long distances to take sufficient rest to enable them drive more carefully and cautiously. Alhaji Idris made the call in an address read on his behalf at the launch of a month long campaign on "Driver Fatigue" in Tamale. He noted that most drivers refused to adhere to the regulations that required them to take a rest after every four hours of driving and expressed concern about long distance drivers that drove for more than 16 hours without a rest. Alhaji Idris said although road user behaviour, unsafe roads and mechanical faults could cause accidents more than 80 per cent of road accidents were caused by human error. He said government spent about one trillion cedis annually on damage to properties, medicals and loss of working hours on road accidents. Alhaji Idris said in 2005, about 11,305 road accidents were recorded nation-wide that resulted in 15,838 casualties and 1,784 fatalities.