12,000 die from road accidents in Seven years

Wa, Aug. 24, GNA - A total of 12,865 people lost their lives, while about 30,000 had very serious injuries through 89,156 road traffic accidents recorded in the country between 1998 and 2005. Mrs. May Obiri-Yeboah, Head of Education and Planning of the National Road Safety Commission, who disclosed this, noted that every fifth motor accident in the country always recorded a death. She was giving an overview of the road safety situation in the country at a two-day seminar at Wa, organized by the Commission for personnel of the law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders in the transportation sector in the Upper West Region.

The seminar aimed to educate and inform traffic law enforcement agencies on the magnitude of the road safety problem, to enable the Judicial Service share and learn best practices in managing traffic related offences and update the knowledge of traffic enforcement organizations on current traffic legislation.

Mrs. Obiri-Yeboah said the current road traffic accident rate of 1,600 deaths in the country per year was very high and noted that there would be more alarming casualty figures as the vehicle population increased, unless collaborative efforts were made to reverse the trend. Mr Ambrose Dery, Upper West Regional Minister observed that lack of collaboration between agencies such as the Police and the Judiciary had often led to traffic offenders being left off the hook or given minor punishment to the disenchantment of the public and frustration of the Police.

He therefore, urged all traffic law enforcement agencies in the region to use the seminar as a platform to establish a network for increased collaboration for their respective statutory responsibilities to be felt.

He regretted that, while in highly motorized countries like Denmark, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom, the rate of motor accidents was between 1.5 and 2.3 per 10,000 vehicles, Ghana with about 800,000 vehicles was recording 18 accidents per 10,000 vehicles.

Mr Noble Appiah, Acting Executive Director of the Commission called for networking among relevant agencies to share knowledge and practical experiences in order to get abreast with new traffic regulations to work effectively.