The police have been accused by the Gambia Transport Union of mounting ‘unofficial checkpoints’ in some areas, which the union said is affecting their (drivers) works while urged police to professionally stick to their official checkpoints.
Speaking to The Voice reporter, the Union’s President Omar Ceesay said: “we are cognizant of the importance of temporal check points, but they shouldn’t be maintained as permanent ones. There operations should be a need-based, and not otherwise.”
He explained that in order to enhance security and coordinated data collection on freight traffic, the union highly recommends that there should be a compulsory introduction of a manifest for both domestic and international traffic.
He therefore called on the government to “revisit the issue of police checkpoints, there is a need to balance the security and efficiency objectives of travellers.”
The president of the union further urged the government to improve the safety of both passengers and vehicles by installing standard speed humps in strategic locations across the country as part of efforts to improving road safety.
“For reduction of rampant road accidents, Ceesay urged the National Road Authority (GRA), in collaboration with all relevant partners to create designated picking and dropping points along the highway and also create designated (such as zebra lines) crossing points for pedestrians not to cross the road anywhere they feel,’ he said.
He went on that there is a need for the government in collaboration with all relevant stakeholders especially Local Councils and the private sector to establish on street and off-street parking facilities especially in the Greater Banjul Areas where the issue of traffic congestion is more visible.
More so, it “is of the view (of union) that the Senegambia Bridge should enhance the livelihoods of the Gambians.”
The government should come up with mechanisms to ensure that contractors utilize local trucks and the drivers in the construction of government projects by employing the services of the union members, Mr Ceesay said.