The National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) on Wednesday said its collaboration with political leaders in 2008 led to a reduction in road crashes by about 5.1 per cent.

A statement issued in Accra by Mr. Kwame Koduah Attuahene, Head of Communications at the NRSC and copied to the Ghana News Agency said "After efforts of the NRSC in collaboration with the leaders of the various political parties in 2008, the number of road traffic fatalities reduced by 5.1 per cent from 2,043 in 2007 to 1,938 in 2008".

"This could not have been realized without the effort and support of the leadership of the various political parties before, during and after the 2008 general elections," it added.

The statement said as part of activities to achieve the objectives of the National Road Safety Strategy (NRSS III) and the three-year Action Plan (2011 – 2013), the NRSC would engage the leadership of all political parties in a dialogue to promote the implementation of “Road Safety Code of Practice for Political Parties” developed by the Commission in 2008.

It said the dialogue session on the theme: “Road Safety, My Responsibility Towards a Peaceful and Crash Free election” had been scheduled for Accra on Thursday, June 21.

The statement said the purpose of the exercise was to effectively promote and sustain road safety in the nation before, during and after the election period.

"While road safety continues to pose a developmental challenge, political parties remain central actors in our constituencies, Parliament and Government and should champion improvements in our road transport system", it said; adding that the programme would generally discuss the road safety situation in election years and the Code of Conduct for Political Parties.

Statistics available at the Commission on road traffic crashes in the country indicate that road traffic fatalities increased by 16.2 per cent in 2000 with 1,237 deaths recorded in 1999 and 1,437 deaths in 2000 and increased again by 27.4 per cent in 2004, with 1,716 deaths in 2003 and 2,186 deaths in 2004.**