Road users should adhere to road safety protocols to avoid accidents - GRSA

The Central Region continues to record high road accident cases as it hits a record high of 208 deaths between January and October 2020, compared to 133 in 2019.

A total of 1, 194 persons were also injured in the
768 motor accidents caused by 1,248 vehicles as against 766 and 1, 216 with 174 pedestrian knockdowns within the same period last year.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) after a five-hour Sensitization Campaign on road safety at Winneba Junction, Ms. Linda A. Annan, Central Regional Head of the Ghana Road Safety Authority (GRSA)expressed her regret that current road data ranked the Region the fifth with high cases in the country.

Organized by the GRSA with support from the Ghana Police Service, the National Fire Service Fire, and the Ambulance Service, the exercise was on the theme; ”We Need to arrive Safely”, to caution road users ahead of the Christmas festivities and beyond.

Ms Annan said 307 motorcycles crashed during the period while 530 of the vehicles involved in the accidents were commercial vehicles while 411 were private as compared to 571 and 397 respectively in 2019,

She attributed the causes of road traffic accidents to include fatigue driving, over speeding, wrongful overtaking, worn-out tyres, unqualified drivers, road user behavior, and many others.

Most often, she indicated, drivers abandoned their vehicles on the shoulders of the road and unauthorized places on the highways while disabled vehicles were sometimes left in the middle of the roads leading to carnages.

She explained that accidents on the roads could be avoided if users of the road strictly respected road safety protocols and drivers lived up to expectations and did not continue to misconduct themselves.

She also called on pedestrians to use the appropriate pedestrian crossing available and not to cross roads unconscious of the traffic on the road.

Ms Annan advised passengers on board vehicles to politely talk to the divers when they drive above their speed limits.