Terrible Accident, Driver Escapes Death

A forty-three year old timber dealer at the Timber Market in Accra, Mr. Yaw Yeboah had a close shave with death on Monday at Weija junction when a Toyota Corolla saloon car with registration number GR 3158H he was travelling in from Kasoa to Accra veered off his lane and crashed under the back axel of a Renault water tanker number GR 1196A, which was traveling from Accra to Kasoa.

The Toyota was damaged beyond recognition. The impact was so heavy that it broke the crank shaft and the springs of the water tanker.

Mr. Yeboah who was severely injured and fell in coma in the process, was immediately rushed to the Korle Bu Teaching hospital. When The Accra Daily Mail reporter visited the victim at the hospital, he was responding to treatment but complained of a fractured leg and a broken rib.

The gruesome accident which occurred at about 4:30pm did not end there. At about 7:30pm after the Toyota car had been towed away leaving the water tanker at the scene of the accident, a Benz passenger bus with registration number AS 1950 N which was also travelling from Accra to Kasoa ran into the tanker leaving five passengers seriously injured. They were also sent to Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.

Eyewitnesses close to the accident scene alleged that Mr. Yeboah, the Toyota driver might have been above the permissible limit allowed drivers. This has not been confirmed.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (DSP), J.S. Haywoode, of the Odorkor Motor Traffic Unit (MTU), where the cars were towed, described the accidents as unfortunate and a result of reckless driving.

DSP Haywoode lamented the spate at which auto accidents have been on the increase and attributed some of them to drunkenness and overspeeding. Road rage now accounts for many tragic deaths and physical impairments in the country.

The Vice President recently mentioned indiscipline on Ghanaian roads as among the country's unacceptable social cankers that need the attention of all. The Accra Daily Mail can report that the Vice President's Office is already preparing a strategy document on how to confront and eliminate this canker.