Kumasi, Nov 1, GNA - Statistics conducted between 2001 and 2005 regarding road traffic accidents in the country indicate that males were more susceptible to fatalities in accidents than their female counterparts.

Mr Magnus Opare-Asamoah, Deputy Minister of Transportation, who disclosed this, said 70 per cent of the 10,584 persons killed in road traffic accidents within the period under review were males. He stressed that a total of 68,000 road traffic accidents were recorded within these years with some 84,472 people sustaining various degrees of injuries out of which 34,000 were serious.

Mr Opare-Asamoah made this known in a speech read on his behalf at the opening of a five-day course in road safety management for selected engineers across the country in Kumasi on Tuesday. The course which is geared towards enabling the participants to acquire skills for proper interpretation and analysis of accident data and understand the importance, concept and practice of road safety audits, is being organised by the Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI).

The Deputy Minister further indicated that over 85 per cent of the national road traffic fatalities were recorded in six of the 10 regions in the country,-- Brong-Ahafo, Ashanti, Central, Western, Eastern and Greater Accra.

He said 70 per cent of the fatalities were recorded on roads in non-urban areas, adding that pedestrians continue to be the most vulnerable road user group as they constituted on the average 42 per cent of fatalities resulting from road accidents.

Mr Opare-Asamoah pointed out that even though there was no available tangible reason to assign to the susceptibility of males to fatalities in accidents it behoved the general public to shun disregard for motor traffic regulations to ensure safety on the roads. He gave the assurance that government was committed to meeting the challenges posed by road traffic accidents through policy interventions including institutional capacity building and implementation of relevant strategies for reducing the frequency and severity of accidents.

The Deputy Minister called for a closer collaboration between government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to ensure the effective management of the road safety audits being organised by the BRRI.