1,237 killed, 7,561 others injured in road crashes

A total of 1,237 persons were killed and 7,561 others injured in 6,653 road crashes in six months this year, statistics from the National Road Safety Authori­ty (NRSA) have revealed.

Similarly, 1,095 deaths were recorded in 6,931 accidents the previous year within the same period.

This year’s crashes involved 11,283 vehicles and recorded 1,219 pedestrian knockdowns.

The Public Relations Officer of the NRSA, Mrs Pearl Adusu Sateckla, disclosed this to the Gha­naian Times in Accra, yesterday.

She said per the reported cases, vehicles involved, persons injured pedestrian knockdowns de­creased by 4 per cent, 4.5 per cent, 3.8 per cent and one per cent re­spectively from January to June this year, whilst persons killed increased by 13 per cent as compared to the same period last year.

“Vehicles involved, persons killed and persons injured all decreased 12.2 per cent, 13.3 per cent, 8.1 per cent and 5.3 per cent respectively whilst pedestrian knockdowns increased by 13.2 per cent in June 2024, compared to the same period of 2023,” Mrs Sateckla noted.

She mentioned causes of road crashes as speeding, wrongful overtaking, fatigued driving, inat­tentiveness, thus using mobile phones when driving and texting.

Mrs. Sateckla said that out of the 6,653 road crashes reported within the six months this year, 51 per cent (3,401) were minor crash­es, 34 per cent (2,261) were serious crashes and the remaining 15 per cent (991 were fatal crashes.

“In 2024, the month of March recorded the highest number of crashes with 1,145 crashes whilst the month of June recorded the least number of crashes with 1,044 crashes,” she added.

Mrs. Sateckla said from January to June, 149 (12%) persons killed were below the age of 18 years whilst 1,088 (88%) were reported to have been adults (above 18 years).

“This indicates that for every seven adults (above 18 years) a child (below 18 years) is killed re­vealing a relatively high road traffic death ratio (7:1) for adults than for children within the period,” she said.

She said that the Bono Region had the highest percentage increase in deaths from January to June this year with 7.78 per cent. Mrs Sateckla appealed to political parties to adhere to road safety regulations during campaigns, to ensure the safety of supporters and members of the public.

Mrs. Sateckla urged drivers to avoid speeding, wrongful overtaking, jumping red lights at intersections fatigue and drunk driving, among other traffic regulations.

She advised pedestrians to use designated sections of the road such as the traffic light, zebra crossing footbridges to avoid knockdowns.