Road crashes claim 676 lives in Central Region

A total of 676 people were killed in 3,663 accident cases recorded in the Central Region from 2010 to 2012 whilst 3,901 others got injured during the same period.

More than forty lives have also been lost during the first quarter of 2013 as compared to 18 during the same period last year.

The alarming situation has compelled some road safety stakeholders in the Region to suggest among others that speed cameras be installed on major highways to monitor the activities of drivers.

At a meeting organized by the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) for stakeholders in Cape Coast, they expressed worry about the growing rate of road crashes in the region, and called for road safety education to be included in the school curricula.

Stiffer punitive measures should also be put in place to check drivers who are found liable of maiming or claiming lives through road crashes, they said.

The meeting was attended by representatives from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority, Ghana Private Road Transport Union, National Commission for Civic Education and the Ghana Highway Authority and other related organizations in the region to discuss and find lasting solutions to the menace.

Superintendent Paul Aduhene, Central Regional Commander of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU), who gave the statistics on road accidents, identified over speeding as one of the major factors contributing to road carnages.

He called for a rigorous public education to be carried out and charged all Ghanaians to play their parts well to help curtail preventable motor accidents.

Regional Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Johnson Owusu-Agyeman said it behooves on passengers to warn defaulting careless drivers or report them to the police if they failed to heed to cautions. He expressed concern that the road accident situation was getting out of hands and needed to be checked immediately.

Mr Stephen Anokye, Regional Manager of NRSC, also attributed the high road crashes to the increase in the volume of traffic on the Accra-Cape Coast road as a result of the new oil find business activities in the Western Region.

He gave the assurance that the Commission was doing its best and urged the media to support it with more public education on the issue.