Accidents claim 74 lives in Upper West Region

Seventy-four people died in 187 road crashes involving 276 vehicles last year 2011 in the Upper West Region, the Regional Command of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service has announced.

The MTTU which gave the statistics to the Ghana News Agency in Wa on Wednesday said 60 out of the 74 deaths recorded were men while the remaining 14 were women and children.

The Unit noted that 65 of the reported cases were fatal, 60 of them were serious and 62 considered as minor cases.

The MTTU said 90 out of the 276 vehicles involved were private, 60 commercial and 126 motor bikes.

He said 25 pedestrians were knocked down by vehicles during the year, bringing the total number of persons injured to 284.

A total amount of GH¢15,296.00 was realised through court fines during the year, he added.

The causes of the crashes, according to the Unit, included overloading and over speeding, drunkenness, inexperienced driving or riding, as well as refusal to obey road traffic regulations on the part of both drivers and motor bike riders.

The command bemoaned the situation in which people were losing their lives through road crashes and cautioned drivers and motor riders to be cautious to and obey all road traffic regulations to ensure safety on the highways.

Source: GNA