Ghanaian Times Editorial: Time to reduce preventable road accident injuries and deaths

Ghanaians woke up to the horrendous news of 34 people dying in an accident at Dompoase near Komenda in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem Municipality in the Central Region.

Two buses moving in the opposite direction collided head-on killing the victims and further injuring 54 passengers onboard the two vehicles. The injured are currently receiving treatment at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital.

According to an eye witness report, it took personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) about seven hours to carry out rescue operation of individuals trapped in the mangled buses.

The reports indicated that preliminary investigation showed wrongful overtaking on the part of the driver from Accra to Cape Coast who was on his way to Takoradi.

The Ghanaian Times sympathises with the bereaved families and the injured in the needless accidents that occurred on Monday.

This is yet another careless and reckless way that Ghanaians have been killed on our roads by drivers who do not care about passengers on their buses.

We are pained that precious lives have been lost in the most horrendous manner when drivers could have exercised a bit of patience on the roads.

Statistics from the Motor Transport and Traffic Department of the Ghana Police Service indicate that road accidents in the country continue to increase with many more people dying in roads crashes.

The deaths that occurred in the Dompoase accident in a single day confirmed that more people are dying through road crashes now than before.

This must be of concern to most Ghanaians that in spite of many interventions that the National Road Safety Authority and other stakeholders have undertaken, there appears not to be any progress in prevention of deaths and injuries on the roads and the number of deaths therefore remain very high.

There is therefore the need for further action to be taken to reduce accidents and protect the population.

It is unacceptable the number of facilities being recorded in accidents across the country and if care is not taken, Ghana may join other African countries in failing in achieving Sustainable Development Goal to reduce the number of road traffic deaths and injuries by 50 per cent.

We do not think that Ghana deserves such a title and therefore we strongly recommended that drastic action is taken to improve on roads safety in the country.