Accra, Sept. 5, GNA - A road expert said on Friday that 86 per cent of road traffic fatalities involved children, with 80 per cent being child pedestrians.

Mr. Kofi Yankson, a Fogarty Scholar in Injury Control, said the high-risk group included children in the bracket of 4-9 years old. The study also revealed that an average of 310 children died annually from road accidents, representing 20 per cent of fatalities in Ghana, while 60 per cent of child traffic injuries occurred on non-urban roads.

At a media workshop to build the capacity of journalists on road traffic reportage, Mr. Yankson also the Country Director of AMEND.org, an NGO in the traffic sector, called for strong advocacy role by journalists to minimize road crashes. The workshop, which brought together over 40 journalists from both the print and electronic media, also educated them on reporting on road crashes and equipped them with tools and information for improved reportage on road traffic injury.

Mr. Yankson called for road safety education among all classes of society and formation of clubs.

He called on parents to also teach their children basic road safety precautions, provide them with retro-reflective material to reduce such accidents. Mr. Noble Appiah, Executive Director, National Road Safety Commission, tasked journalists to question politicians and policy makers on their vision for the development of the road sector. He noted that there had been various reforms in the transport industry aimed at reducing or preventing accidents. 5 Sept. 08