115 persons killed in road accidents in Northern Region
A total of 115 persons were killed, while 462 got injured as a result of road accidents in the year 2015 in the Northern Region.
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The accidents that were recorded for the period also stood at 259 involving 291 vehicles and 168 motorbikes and tricycles.
Majority of residents in the region, especially the regional capital, Tamale, rely on motorbikes and tricycles, popularly known as “John Mahama Canboo” and ‘Motor King’ as their means of transport. Some, however, do not wear crash helmets.
The Northern Regional Manager of the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), Mr Alex Ayatah, disclosed this at a training programme organised by the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) in collaboration with the Transport Services Consult for its members in Tamale last week.
The three-day training programme was sponsored by the Council for Technical and Vocational Education Training (COTVET).
Mr Ayatah said majority of accident victims of road accidents in 2015 died through motorbikes and tricycles.
He, therefore, cautioned users to endeavour to wear their crash helmets while riding to reduce the fatalities.
He also cautioned commercial drivers to observe road safety regulations to curb accidents in the region and the country as a whole.
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The acting Northern Regional Chairman of the GPRTU, Alhaji Abubakari Alhassan Chendiba, for his part, said research by the NRSC indicated that 75 per cent of road accidents in Ghana were caused by commercial drivers due to road safety negligence, lack of adequate training and bad driving ethics.
He, therefore, urged the participants to apply what they had learnt during the training to help reduce accidents and the carnage on the roads.
A facilitator from the Transport Services Consult, Mr Joseph Amamoo, attributed the increase in road accidents in the country to over speeding, drink-driving and non-compliance of road regulations.
He also attributed the increase in the construction of legal and illegal speed humps on our roads to lack of respect for speed limits within human settlements and, urged drivers to observe road regulations to help reduce road accidents, adding that the training programme was designed to update the knowledge and the driving skills of commercial drivers to that effect.
The Chief Executive Officer of Transport Services Consult and a road safety expert, Dr Justice Amegashie, reiterated the call for passengers to wear seatbelts.
He also asked drivers to desist from using mobile phones while driving.