Koforidua, Dec 11, GNA - Eastern Region recorded 1,371 road accidents involving 1,813 vehicles with 317 people killed and 2,179 seriously wounded as at the end of November,. Out of the number, 40 percent of them were young people and the figure recorded this year is an increase of 18.3 percent over figures recorded for the same period last year.

The Eastern Regional Co-ordinator of the National Road Safety Committee, Mr Stephen Anokye, said this at the inauguration of the Regional branch of "KERAPA", a National Youth and Adolescent Network on Population and Development in Koforidua on Wednesday. He said about 90 percent of the accidents were caused by human error.

Mr Anokye appealed to the youth not to keep quiet when they are in a vehicle and the driver is receiving calls on the mobile phone or is engaged in dangerous driving.

The Eastern Regional Co-ordinator of the National Youth Council (NYC), Paapa Kyeremeh, said the results of the last census indicated that the youth and children constituted almost 70 percent of the population of the country.

He appealed to the group to mainstream environmental issues in all their activities to ensure that the youth of the country championed the fight for the protection of the environment.