The Greater Accra Regional branch of the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) has recorded 4,876 cases of road crashes and 399 deaths from January to October 2023.

Speaking in an interview with Ghana News Agency at Tema, Mr Ezra Quansah, Assistant Planning Manager, NRSA Greater Accra Region, stated that road accidents occurred because of human errors, with 8,804 vehicles involved.

He added that those injured because of road accidents were 2,776; those involved in pedestrian knockdowns were 866 and out of that, 206 died. Mr Quansah who spoke to GNA on the sidelines of a road safety workshop for drivers in Tema reiterated that for the crash, injuries, and deaths for commercial vehicles 2,294; 928 people got injured, 94 deaths, and for the private vehicles crashes, there were 5,122, 843 injuries and 134 deaths.

“For the motorcycle crashes, there were 1,388; 1,005 injured; and 166 deaths,” he noted. He highlighted that for all the road crashes, they recorded 70 female deaths and 329 male deaths. He emphasised that the Christmas season was approaching, therefore drivers should ensure safe driving to prevent road accidents and urged them to prevent the use of unapproved lights fixed on vehicles to avoid being punished by the police MTTD and going on long journeys with single drivers.

He appealed to long-distance drivers to be two in a vehicle for four-hour driving intervals to prevent road crashes. D03 Fifi Oppong, Tema Regional Operations Officer and Safety Officer of the Ghana National Fire Service stated that it was mandatory for every driver to have a fire extinguisher in the car because overheating or electric faults could cause a fire outbreak in the vehicle.

He said the fire extinguishers should be changed either every six months or a year, and the specific fire extinguisher type to be used in a car should be a dry powder type. He urged the public to call the fire service emergency number 192/112 when there was an accident with people trapped in it.

“Drivers should avoid drinking alcohol before driving to prevent road accidents during the festive season,” he advised. Alhaji Nasiru Abachem, Chief Executive Officer of Finance Company Limited, added that the impact of the road safety lessons on the drivers and motorriders would help them drive safely on the roads.

He advised the drivers to drive carefully, even on a rough road or a titled road, for their safety ahead of the festive season. Mr Nii Noi Hanson-Nortey, MP for Tema Central, stated that there were challenges faced by the public on road issues, mentioning that “our infrastructure deficit is a problem, and after 66 years of independence, it should have been better to have at least had a dual carriageway or three-path highway, especially in the middle belt between Accra, Kumasi, and beyond.”.

He appealed to the government to construct good roads in some communities to avoid accidents.