27 killed in motor accidents during Easter festivities

The Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service, on Wednesday said 27 lives were lost nationwide through road accidents during this year’s Easter celebrations as against 18 deaths recorded within the same period last year.

This was out of a total number of 173 reported cases between the 6th and the 9th of April, as against 193 crashes reported within the same period last year.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Alexander Kweku Obeng, Head of Education Research and Training at National MTTU, disclosed these in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra.

He said, despite the decrease in the number of accidents this year, the rate of fatalities was high compared to last year.

ASP Obeng said, out of the total number of crashes recorded during the festive season this year, 24 cases were fatal as against 17 fatal cases last year.

According to him, 134 commercial and 119 private vehicles were involved in crashes with 26 motor bicycles out of which 124 persons experienced various degrees of injuries as against 142 who got injured within the same period last year.

ASP Obeng noted that, the Eastern Region, where Easter celebrations is a common feature, 20 accidents were recorded with 3 fatalities while Accra alone had 71 reported crashes with 8 fatal cases.

He said 10.3 percent decrease in the number of road accident cases during the celebrations showed that efforts of the MTTU and other stakeholders in ensuring road safety, was to some extent successful.**