Eastern Region recorded 1,162 road accidents with 245 deaths last year

Nkawkaw, March 31, GNA - Eastern Region Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of Ghana Police Service recorded 1,162 road accidents involving 1,642 vehicles with 245 deaths last year. About 1,625 people received various degrees of injuries while 86 pedestrians were knocked down by vehicles in different parts of the Region. Police Superintendent Sarfo Prempeh, Eastern Regional Commander of MTTU, who announced this said in the first quarter of this year, 65 people had been killed in 380 road accidents involving 433 vehicles with 449 people receiving injuries.

He was speaking at the Eastern Regional launching of this year's road safety campaign at Nkawkaw on Tuesday. Police Superintendent Prempeh called for co-operation among all stakeholders in the transport and road sectors to eliminate indiscipline which had been a major cause of road accidents. He appealed to drivers to co-operate with the police, the various drivers unions and officials of the road safety commission to enforce discipline on the roads to save life and property in the country. Launching the campaign on the theme "Curbing Road Accidents - the Role of Stakeholders," Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, Eastern Regional Minister, said about 1,600 people were killed through road accidents throughout the country annually out of which 70 per cent of them were bread winners of their families. He said available statistics revealed that over 60 per cent of the accidents were due to over speeding, drunkenness, poor condition of vehicles, over loading, wrongful overtaking, non observance of road signs and fatigue. Mr Ofosu-Ampofo urged Ghanaians to be responsible to safeguard their lives when travelling as passengers and avoid putting pressure on drivers to over speed because they wanted to arrive at their destinations early.

He advised Ghanaians not to politicise the recent road accidents and urged drivers to update their knowledge through workshops to correct their mistakes to avoid accidents on the road. Mr Ofosu-Ampofo advised the drivers' unions not to load "floating drivers" who had not registered with any union to ensure decency on the road. Deputy Commissioner of Police, George Anko Bill, Eastern Regional Police Commander and Chairman of Eastern Regional Road Safety Commission, said human errors were the main cause of accidents on the roads. He appealed to drivers, pedestrians and passengers to co-operate to ensure discipline on the roads to avoid accidents. 31 March 09