Upper East Region lost 12 lives to road accidents in January 2021

Correspondence from Upper East:

12 persons have died through road accidents in the month of January 2021, in the Upper East Region.

All deceased persons were males, with ages ranging from 18years to 60years, all from Bolgatanga and Navrongo.

Over 70% of them are motorbike accidents because they are largely the means of mobility in the Region.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Ghanaweb's Upper East Regional Correspondent, Sarah Dubure, the Upper East Regional Head of the National Road Safety Commission, Mr. Dennis Yeribu, attributed the cause of the accidents to excessive speeding

He described the situation as serious and explained that projecting the current figures for the remaining months meant that the Region would record about 120 deaths or more, by the close of the year.

Mr. Yeribu revealed that Bolgatanga and Kassena Nankana Municipality are always the hardest hit, followed by Bawku West and East.

He added that the Talensi and Bongo districts did not have many recorded cases, but was quick to add that they know that case cases did happen there, just that they were not reported.

Mr. Yeribu said statistics indicate that majority of the casualties are males, between the ages of 18years and 50years.

The Regional Head observed that an emerging trend was tricycles, commonly known as "Mahama candos" getting involved in the crashes.

Mr. Yeribu explained that they were more dangerous because anytime they happened, the occupants also got affected.

He added that most of them die, leaving their wives and vulnerable children.

Mr. Yeribu also noted that majority of pedestrians who got knocked down by motorbikes ended up dying.

"More than half of those who are being knocked down whiles either walking by the road, crossing the road, or standing by the road end up dying", he said.

He indicated that as of last year, nine people were knocked down by motorbikes, out of which six of them died.

Mr Yeribu explained that those involved in motorbike crashes did not die as much as the number of pedestrians who got knocked down by motorbikes.

He advised the people of the Region to control their speed when riding or driving on the road, wear crash helmets, and be considerate of road users as well.

He expressed the hope that when these measures are taken into account, 90% of the cases would reduce.