January 20

WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH
DAILY HERITAGE MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 2020
05
Editorial
Law on careless driving must be reformed
ONE WONDERS when road
accidents would not be too much
of a bother in the country, not
because they would not happen,
but because they would happen
purely for technical causes that
were beyond detection.
The DAILY HERITAGE is
saying this because most of the
accidents people suffer in the
country come as a result of human
errors that mostly could be
avoided. For instance, speeding and
wrongful overtaking are typical
examples of human errors that can
completely be avoided.
It beats the imagination of rightthinking
people why a driver should
assume that his counterpart coming
from the opposite direction would
definitely do some defensive
driving if he misbehaves.
Sometimes some drivers do wrong
overtaking and force drivers from
the opposite direction to save the
situation.
Sometime ago the observation
was that commercial drivers were
mostly the offenders. Currently that
observation never holds because
drivers of V8 vehicles and other
4WD vehicles, and tipper truck
drivers are the worst offenders.
Drivers of these vehicles exploit
the speed, the size, strength and
even ownership to bulldoze their
way to the hurt of other road users.
This said, speeding and wrong
overtaking could be blamed for
most accidents. The accident near
Komenda this week that has so far
claimed 35lives, according to
sources came as a result of wrong
overtaking.
Drivers continue to kill innocent
people, nation builders who were
playing various roles to help build
the nation. Reports about the
Komenda accident says the drivers
of the two vehicles involved in the
accident died. Sad.
Sometimes some reckless drivers
are able to save their lives and at
times come out of accidents
unscathed while they kill others or
maim others for life and their
punishments are usually fines. Can’t
the nation change or amend the
laws on driving?
The DAILY HERITAGE
believes that since drivers of today
have decided to focus only on the
money they would make and so are
fond of speeding and wrongful
overtaking, the country should
have laws that can charge drivers
with manslaughter and other
crimes that attract serious
sentences without parole.
Even certain technical faults
should be punished if they are
found to have been ignored by the
drivers.
Also, there must be police
officers stationed at stations where
passengers pick vehicles for long or
out-of-town journeys, and they
should tell the passengers what the
law expects the drivers to do on the
road while passengers are given the
right to report reckless drivers to
the police once two or more of
them can bear witness the driver’s
misbehaviour.
No date for population census yet
THE GHANA Statistical
Service
(GSS) has debunked
media reports
specifying
dates for the2020 Population
and Housing Census.
According to the GSS, recently
there has been conflicting
statements on various media
“As the Government Statistician
indicated during the release of the
December 2019 consumer price
index and inflation rates on 8th
January 2020, the census which
was originally scheduled for March
2020 is likely to be moved forward
by a couple of months.
• Ghana Statistical Service clears air
outlets regarding the approved
date for Ghana’s forthcoming
6th post-independence population
and housing census.
In a statement signed
by the Deputy Government
Statistician, Mr David Yenukwa
Kombat, and copied to the
DAILY HERITAGE, the
GSS says as the institution responsible
for the implementation
of the census, it wishes to
clarify that the census will be
conducted this year (2020)
but not within the period
being bandied around.
“As the Government
Statistician indicated
during the release of
the December 2019
consumer price index
and inflation rates on
8th January 2020, the
census which was originally
scheduled for
March 2020 is likely to be
moved forward by a couple
of months.
“This change in date is being
anticipated following observations
from the completed field
census mapping exercise, which
has engendered the need to redesign
technological interventions
required for complete
coverage, enhanced accuracy
and timely release of the census
results”, he said.
The GSS, therefore, urged its
stakeholders, the media and the
public to maintain positive engagement
and participation in
the preparation and implementation
of the 2020 census activities,
“including sharing of the
right information”.
He added that the census
date will soon be announced to
the general public once approved
by the National Census
steering Committee.
“Additional information
about the 2020 population and
housing census may be obtained
from the office of the Deputy
Government Statistician in
charge in charge of Services
and the Ghana Statistical Service
head office,” the statement
concluded.