Road crashes high in Eastern Region

The Eastern Region has been identified to have recorded the third highest of road crashes in the country after Ashanti and Greater Accra regions.

The region recorded 705 road crash cases within the first and second quarters of the year with 169 persons being killed.

Mr. Kwasi Tsibu Yirenkyi, Regional Manager of the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) announced this in a presentation at the 2012 Mid-Year Performance Review conference of the NRSC underway in Kumasi.

The regional manager indicated that, the region could not achieve its target of reducing road crash fatalities during the period and gave the assurance that more efforts are being put in place to ensure that the last two quarters achieve some remarkable improvements.

He said six districts identified to have the highest potential for road crashes are; Kwahu West, East Akyem, Suhum, Nsawam-Adoagyiri, Birim Central and Yilo Krobo-Akuapem.

The Suhum-Nsawam stretch of the Accra-Kumasi highway is another emerging accident-prone area due to inaccessibility.

Mr. Yirenkyi said, during a road safety audit on the Koforidua-Mamfe and Oyoko-Bunso stretch, overgrown tree branches and weeds, lack of road signage such as faded road markings, the absence of caution notices were identified as some of the causes of frequent road crashes in those areas.

He said his outfit had made a number of interventions to stem the upsurge of the high incidence of reported cases of crashes and fatalities in the third and fourth quarters.

He mentioned some of the measures as the implementation and management of route action plans such as police presence, managing road user behaviour, and treatment of identified hazard on roads.**