Ghana needs a road crash app for accurate data – Analyst
Mr. Tonny Dickson Afriford, the Executive Director of Global Road Safety Media Foundation, has called for an introduction of a road crash app to enable the country to collect accurate data on crashes.
Mr. Afriford who is also a road crash analyst said having different road crash data being reported by the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) and the Bureau of Public Safety was worrying.
He stated at the Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office and Motor Transport and Traffic Department (MTTD) Road Safety Campaign Platform that the reduction could be attributed to the concentration of the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) and other stakeholders.
The GNA Tema Regional Office and the Motor Transport and Traffic Department (MTTD) Road Safety Campaign platform, seek to use prominent persons to provide education on the need to be safe on the roads and reduce road carnage.
The Tema GNA and MTTD Road Safety Project seeks to create consistent and systematic weekly awareness advocacy on the need to be cautious on the road as a user, educate all road users of their respective responsibilities, and sensitize drivers, especially on the tenets of road safety regulations, rules, and laws.
Mr. Afriford explained that an app, which would be available to the MTTD, Ghana Medical Association, National Ambulance Service, the NRSA and other state agencies who have a stake in crashes would help in the proper collection of data.
He said the number of crashes could be under-reported looking at the current situation, as in some cases, people convey road crash victims to hospitals, while Muslim victims might also be taken by the family for burial before the MTTD have the chance to the scene or investigate it.
He also added that pedestrians might get knocked down in remote areas without the MTTD having records of it, but having an app could help capture such incidents, as health providers in such areas for instance could enter the data to report such crashes.
He observed that having conflicting data could affect interventions and policies for the sector as policymakers may have to choose the ones that favour their positions instead of using the one that could be impactful.
He added that it would also affect enforcement and sensitization as it would be difficult to segment and target which areas and persons that needed such education and deterrent actions.
Mr. Afriford said road designs could also be affected with inconsistencies in road crashes data as such statistics formed part of important consideration in road engineering.
The NRSA in a provisional report for January to June 2022, disclosed that Ghana recorded a decrease in reported road crashes as compared to that of 2021.
The data available to the Ghana News Agency showed that a total of 7,687 were documented by the NRSA for the first quarter of 2022 as compared to the 8,188 seen in 2021 for the same period, which is a reduction of 401 representing 6.12 percent.
According to the Authority, a total of 13,248 vehicles were involved in the 2022 crashes leading to the death of 1,300 persons as compared to the 2021’s 13,973 vehicles and 1,454 persons killed.
The data also showed a 2.33 percent reduction in the number of persons who got injured as a total of 7,997 and 8,188 injuries were recorded respectively in the first half of 2022 and 2021.
Source: GNA