Ghanaians told to do more to prevent accidents
The rate of accidents has been increasing for the past 20 years, Mr David Osafo Adonteng, Director In-charge Resource Monitoring and Evaluation of the National Road Safety Commission, (NRSC) has said.
A survey conducted by the Commission, he said, indicates that the total number of accident deaths increased from 1,437 from 1991 to 2000 – a period of 10 years – to 1,986 for between 2001 and 2010.
Mr Adonteng, therefore, appealed to Ghanaians to do their best to help reduce the situation.
He was speaking at a sensitization workshop attended by members of some key organizations, including the Consumer Protection Agency, Ghana Institution of Engineers and the Ghana Bar Association.
The workshop was organised by the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) with support from DANIDA, Department for International Development (DFID) and USAID.
It was aimed at allowing the participants in the Southern Sector to be abreast with the on-going process towards reviewing of the Road Safety Commission Act, Act 567 of 1999.
Mr Adonteng said the number of vehicles involved in accidents during the same period increased from 11,087 in the first ten years to 11,506 in the second decade – 2001/2010.
He said 210 people also died in motorcycle accidents between 2001 and 2010 as against 42 in 1991 to 2000.
He said the number of persons injured in the accidents also jumped from 5,180 between 1991 and 2000 to 5,713 between 2001 and 2010.
According to Mr Adonteng, 853 pedestrians were also killed by vehicles between 2001 and 2010 against 662 in 1991 to 2000.
He said the annual increase of road traffic fatalities in the period 2001-2010 was 46 against 61 in 1991-2000, indicating an improvement of 24.6 per cent.
Mr Adonteng said drivers must be blamed for most of the accidents since most of them involved in drink driving and other traffic offences.
He said road safety is a shared and collective responsibility and expressed the hope that when Ghanaians improved their attitude towards the management of the roads it would go a long way to help reduce accidents by 50 per cent in 2020 as targeted by the Government.
The participants were taking through topics which include, Road Safety Situation in Ghana, BUSAC Fund and Road Safety Advocacy Action.
Source: GNA