About 90% of road accidents said to be avoidable
The Tema Police Command of the Motor Transport and Traffic Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service has stated that about 90 to 95 per cent of road accidents that occur in the country are avoidable.
Sergeant Richard Timinka of the MTTD noted that all it takes for road users to prevent road accidents is to abide by the regulations, rules, or codes that govern driving.
Sgt Timinka representing the Regional Commander of the MTTD – Ghana Police Service stated at the Ghana News Agency at Tema and MTTD road safety campaign platform.
The GNA and MTTD Road Safety Project seek to actively create consistent and systematic weekly awareness advocacy on the need to be cautious on the road as users, educate all road users of their respective responsibilities, and sensitize drivers on road safety regulations.
According to him, the regulations such as the highway code, road act, and road traffic regulations, took care of whatever happens on the road and when abided by, accidents will be reduced drastically.
Sgt. Timinka explained that generally there are four types of accidents but the system in Ghana recognizes three, which are fatal, serious, and minor accidents.
He said fatal accidents involved death regardless of the number of lives lost, serious accidents involved injury where the victim or victims spent more than 24 hours at the hospital whereas minor accidents occurred with injuries where victims spent less than 24 hours at the hospital before being discharged.
Mr Francis Ameyibor, Tema GNA Regional Manager, noted that road safety was a shared responsibility and Ghanaians should be concerned about whatever happened on the road.
He said, “no single individual can say that he or she does not use the road, we are all road users, either as a passenger, drivers or pedestrians, cyclists or motor riders”.
He said the actions or inactions of people on the road could cause an accident which could affect the individual or other people.
Mr Ameyibor mentioned that the impact of road accidents was severe stating that apart from death and injuries, it had financial implications.
He said “for instance where the breadwinner is incapacitated, the entire family’s livelihood is gone although the person survived the accident.
Mr Ameyibor urged Ghanaians to help fight the carnage on our roads. “Let us stop road accidents and let us join forces to fight for safer roads”.
Source: GNA