Road crashes kill six everyday - NRSC

Six people dies every day through road crashes, whilst two thousand people dies each year with over eight hundred and fourty through pedestrians accidents, the statistics from National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) has revealed.

Director, Planning and Programmes, NRSC, Mr David Osafo Adonteng gave the breakdown during a sensitization workshop for religious leaders on the need for them to educate their congregation on road safety.

He said 73.7 per cent of those who die in road crash accidents were men while 26.3 per cent were women, adding that the Commission had detected that most road accidents were usually recorded on Saturdays.

“Road safety has now become a humanitarian issue with 1.3 million people losing their lives worldwide with 3,500 people dying daily in the world due to road crash accidents. Adding that road crashes had been recorded as the leading cause of untimely death for youth between the ages between 15 and 29.”

The Executive Director, NRSC, Mrs May Obiri-Yeboah said the Commission decided on the sensitization programme for the religious leaders because it formed part of its decentralization programme and also due to the tremendous influence they have on their followers

She said the partnership was to enable the religious leaders to educate their followers on the need to observe road safety rules.

Mrs. Yeboah, however, called on religious leaders to give road safety prominence on their religious calendars in order to give effective education on the topic to their followers.

“NRSC would be delighted if our religious leaders could place the observation of road safety on their calendars so as to give more time to issues relating to road safety on such days,” Mrs Obiri-Yeboah urged.

Mr Thomas Donkor, Senior Public Health Engineer, Local Government Service, also appealed to the religious leaders to help state institutions do their work properly.