Ghana records 2,000 road fatalities annually

Ghana records about 2,000 fatalities in road accidents annually as six lives are lost daily through those accidents.

The Greater Accra Region tops with about 53 per cent of accidents in the country annually while the other regions record a total of 47 per cent of the accident cases.

About 11,000 accidents occur in the country annually.

An estimated 75 per cent of accident fatalities are males while 25 per cent are females.

Of the vehicle types that are mostly involved in accidents, saloon cars are identified as accident-prone vehicles.

Campaign

The Planning Officer of the National Road Safety Commission, Mr Charles Oduro, stated this at the launch of a Road Safety Campaign in the East Legon District in Accra yesterday.

The programme was in line with the Transformation Agenda of the Inspector-General of Police which seeks to make the Ghana Police Service a world-class institution.

He advised drivers to be cautious when driving as inattentiveness had been identified to be the most common driver error associated with casualties.

“Driving while talking on the mobile phone or getting distracted by a passer-by are some of the things that lead to inattentiveness and could cause accidents,” Mr Oduro added.

Arrest

For his part, the Director of Education at the Motor Transport and Traffic Department (MTTD), Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mr Alexander Kweku Obeng, revealed that for the month of January this year, about 446 drivers were arrested for various traffic and road offences out of which 436 were arraigned and 333 convicted.

Six of the convicted were jailed while the rest were fined.

The director advised drivers to always use their seatbelts to ensure safety on the roads.

He also urged commercial drivers to acquire all the necessary documents, stay away from intoxicants and regularly maintain their vehicles.

He further advocated the inclusion of pedestrian walkways in the design and construction of roads in the country.

“A good road in Ghana is a road that has a walkway for pedestrians which is separate from the main road. And when motorists do not heed road signs, they end up hitting pedestrians,” he said.

Consequences

The East Legon District Police Commander, Superintendent Mr Cephas Arthur, warned that road traffic breaches had dire consequences for human life.

“The needless loss of lives and properties that we continue to record on our roads inevitably culminates into wastage of our human resource base as a nation,” he added.

The commander, therefore, called for cooperation from all stakeholders to help reduce the spate of accidents and fatalities on the roads.