No Decline in Road Accident Fatalities

STATISTICS RELEASED by the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) for the first quarter of the year has revealed negligible decrease in the number of fatalities associated with road accidents in the country from 332 deaths the same period last year to 331 deaths, representing a 0.30% reduction over last year's figure, although the number of vehicles involved in accidents increased from 4078 to 4278.

According to the information officer of the NRSC, Mr. Noel Arcton-Tettey, 47% of the total deaths on the roads were recorded from the most vulnerable road users; pedestrians.

Of that total, about 43% were children aged 16 years or below, who formed a quarter of the total number of fatalities.

Explaining further, Mr. Arcton-Tettey said of the 2639 vehicles that were involved in accidents in the Greater Accra quarter, 760 people got injured while 93 people died. This represented a 22% increase in the number of fatalities over last year's figure of 73 deaths.

Ashanti region recorded the highest number of fatalities for the quarter with 98 deaths, representing an increase of 36% over last year's figure of 58.

From the 833 vehicles that were involved in accidents in the region, 551 persons were injured.

The Eastern region saw 262 vehicles involved in accidents; 31 people died while 156 got injured during the quarter.

Two hundred and sixty three vehicles were involved in accidents in the Western region. Out of this, 265 people were injured while 23 people got killed on the roads. The Central region had 168 vehicles involved in accidents resulting in the maiming of 152 people and killing of 30 persons.

Northern region saw 18 dead and 107 injured people out of 89 vehicles that had accidents. Brong Ahafo and the Upper West regions recorded six and four road accident victims respectively.

Speaking to the Chronicle, Mr. Arcton-Tettey said that over-speeding and drink-driving cause about 60% of all accidents.

He promised that the NRSC would focus more on educating drivers on over-speeding and drink driving in addition to their normal public educational programmes.

He reported the NRSC has held training programmes for commercial drivers and children of school-going age on the uses of road signs and when to use them.

He advised drivers to take about five minutes every day to check their oil, water and brake fluid levels as well as the pressure of the tyres. "Any broken parts should be replaced before driving," he noted.

The executive director of the NRSC, Mr. Noble Appiah, said the nation loses about 2% of the gross domestic product through road accidents.

He said the commission is coordinating all strategies to reduce road accidents and its attendant fatalities and the NRSC expects a drastic reduction in the number of accidents by 2005.