Cape Coast Area Manager of the National Insurance Commission (NIC), Nicholina Adumuah-Ladzekpo has called for the urgent establishment of a committee to champion the welfare of road traffic crash victims.

Mrs Adumuah-Ladzekpo, made the call at a ceremony to mark this year’s World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Crash Victims (WDoR) organised by the NRSA in Cape Coast at the weekend.

She lamented on the difficulty victims go through in securing the necessary material to process their insurance claims and said sometimes victims are made to pay huge sums in order to secure Police and medical reports.

“The Police and medical reports are necessary materials you need to process a claim, so you must have it. I know that it is a big challenge to accident victims when such case occurs”, she said.

She appealed to all stakeholders especially the medical fraternity to put a human face to the work that they did and desist from charging traumatized patients unnecessarily before helping them.

“It disturbs me and I know that it is a concern for a lot of people. When the person is traumatized and you are demanding such an amount, where are they going to take it from”, she lamented.

She said there should be speedy trial of accident cases such that whatever compensation thereof could be claimed by victims from the insurance companies before it was late.

Mrs Adumuah-Ladzekpo encouraged passengers to be bold and speak against drivers who drive recklessly on the road saying “as passengers, we have a duty of care”.

Ms Linda Affotey-Annag, Regional Head of the NRSA said the Day offered an opportunity for drawing attention to the scale of emotional and economic devastation caused by road traffic crashes.

A representative from the Ghana Red Cross Society, the Police MTTD, the Ghana National Association of Passengers took turns to address the gathering and called on all to join the efforts to reduce road accidents in the country.

The WDoR is an official United Nations observation, held on the third Sunday of November every year to recognise the suffering of road traffic crash victims and the work of support and rescue services.

The theme for this year’s commemoration is “First Responders”, recognizing the selfless men and women who rescue, care for and provide support to victims of road trauma.