The National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) says it is yet to conduct specific study on “women buttocks” as a source of driver inattentiveness.
The Authority in a statement said the assertion was only based on feedback from some road users, including drivers and global examples.
“While the Authority confirms that distracted driving or driver inattentiveness constitutes a major threat to road traffic crashes, the Authority has yet to conduct a specific study on ‘women buttocks’ as a source of driver inattentiveness except for the feedback from other road users, including drivers and global examples.”
The statement said the NRSA had monitored public reaction to a comment made on Citi FM’s Auto Show programme by its Public Relations Manager on March 28, 2024, about distracted driving as a cause of Road Traffic Crashes in Ghana.
It said distracted driving was a serious and growing global threat to road safety and manifested in various forms, including manual distractions, visual distractions, and cognitive distractions.
According to the statement, driver inattentiveness may arise from situations when a driver was unable to fully concentrate on the road due to visual or cognitive distraction from watching scenic views of all forms on the road.
It said the Road Traffic (Amendment) Act, 2008 (Act 761) considered careless and inconsiderate driving (driving without due care and attention or reasonable consideration for other persons) as a major road traffic offence with a penalty of two hundred penalty units or a term of imprisonment not exceeding 40 months or both.
The statement said in context, the NRSA representative on the programme sought to give examples of such real-life situations of visual or cognitive distractions, including fidgeting with phones and radio, and “buttocks-watching” by some male drivers.
The Authority encouraged that discussions around road safety during the Easter period should be focused on speeding.
It said motorists must travel at a safe speed and passengers should speak up against all forms of misbehaviour, including high speeds, wrongful overtaking, the use of mobile phones while driving and other forms of distractions.
GNA
KK
31 March 2024
