The latest survey conducted by the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) reveals that 1,585 deaths were recorded at the end of August 2020.
This comes out of a total of 9,205 road crashes that occurred in the country.
Speaking at a meeting with the Ghana Journalists Association on plans to reduce road carnage, Director General of NRSA, Engineer May Obiri Yeboah, lamented the impact of road crashes on the economy.
“As at the end of August 2020, 9,205 crashes were reported involving 15,459 vehicles and resulting in 1,585 deaths, 1,638 pedestrian knockdowns, and 9,397 injuries. This situation represents a relative increase from the situation over the same period of last year. With a 0.34% increase in the number of crashes, a 2.9% increase in the number of vehicles involved, a 0.13% increase in deaths, and a 1.2% increase in injury cases. However, there was a 17.61% reduction in pedestrian knockdown.”
Ing Obiri Yeboah noted that “Men remain the most vulnerable to road traffic casualties as 81% of crash victims were males.”
She also called on political parties to adhere to the road safety regulations in their activities leading to the 2020 general elections.
“Over the last two decades, the data suggest an increase in road traffic crashes during an election year, except the year 2008 and 2016. With the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections building up, we wish to call on all political party leaders to revisit the road safety code for political parties, which require that they appoint road safety officers. These officers have the responsibility to ensure internal control and implementation of best practices of road safety protocols, for the greater good of the campaign.”
“We wish to also call on them to join the advocacy for good road safety behaviour,” she added.
