1,144 people die in road crashes over the past six months

A total number of 1,144 people have lost their lives in road related crashes from the months of January and June 2012 out of 7,172 accident cases reported to the police.

Out of the number, 10,572 vehicles were involved in the crashes whiles 7,165 people were reported to have sustained various degrees of injuries.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mr. Alexander Kwaku Obeng, in charge of Research and Training at the National Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (NMTTU), said this at a two-day capacity building workshop for its Senior Police Officers.

The event which aims at updating the knowledge of the officers on the new road traffic Act and Regulations recently passed by Parliament included officers from the Upper East, Upper West, Northern and the Brong Ahafo regions.

ASP Obeng said out of the above figure, 2,330 people were reported dead in 13,572 reported road crashes from January to December 2011.

He said these accidents involved 19,530 vehicles and 13,272 people sustained various degrees of injuries.

ACP Mr. Angwubotoge Awuni, the Commanding Officer of the NMTTU, who addressed the participants during the opening of the workshop at the Upper East Regional Police Training School at Pwalugu near Bolgatanga, conceded that outdated laws on traffic regulations in the country had hindered the smooth enforcement of traffic rules by road enforcement agencies.

He said the restructuring of the traffic laws was partly to fulfill the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety instituted in 2011 to reduce fatalities attributable to traffic accidents by 50 per cent, and said he was confident that improved enforcement of road traffic laws was necessary in achieving the objective of the decade of action.

Mr. Awuni said to effectively address problems associated with road traffic regulations, the traffic law enforcement officers would be taken through exercises that would enrich them with knowledge on how to effectively and efficiently enforce the new regulations.

He said the new regulation among others sought to ban the use of mobile phones in their entirety while driving, the operation of television on dash boards of vehicles while in motion and towing of breakdown vehicles.

Mr. Awuni said vehicle owners would hence be required to pay prescribed fees annually for towing services and said aspects of the law also prohibits the use of motor cycle for commercial purposes, adding that vehicles using liquefied petroleum Gas would have to acquire a license from the Driver and Vehicular Licensing Authority (DVLA) before using LPG, while those already using LPG would have a three-month transition period within which to apply for license. He reaffirmed that the MTTU remained fully committed to cooperating with all stakeholders for progress, prosperity and safety in Ghana.

Other resource persons who facilitated the workshop included DSP Sasu Mensah, who is in charge of Investigations at the NMTTU, Mr. Cheyuo Wienaa Musah, Director in charge of Training at the DVLA and Mr. Beckley Rudolf, Greater Accra Region Chairman of the National Road Safety Commission.**