The Ashanti Regional Police Command has begun an exercise to clamp down on reckless driving which was causing a lot of accidents in the region.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) David Agyemang Adjem, the Deputy Regional Police Commander, who announced this, said the focus of the operation this time, would be on KIA Pregio commercial drivers, who have built extra seats in their vehicles to carry additional passengers instead of the required number of twelve.

Briefing journalists in Kumasi, he revealed that from January to June, this year, the region recorded a total of 1,921 road traffic accidents. Out of this number, 240 people lost their lives while 2,309 sustained various forms of injuries.

ACP Adjem pointed out that statistics had revealed that the region recorded an average of 10 accidents every day, of which two people die.

He said the Regional Command had christened the exercise “operation to reduce road traffic accidents” and “operation to make passengers comfortable in public transport”.

Additionally, the police was intensifying public education on road safety, enforcing road traffic regulations and mounting snap checks to prevent over-speeding, wrongful overtaking, under-aged driving, sub-standard vehicles, and unlicensed vehicles.

ACP Adjem said with these measures in place, and with the support of the people, the Command was confident to reduce the rate of accidents in the region.