Tema, Jan. 8, GNA - A total of 127 people lost their lives and 478 suffered various degrees of injuries in a total of 1,287 accidents recorded in the Tema Metropolis last year.

Records at the Tema Regional Motor, Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) indicate that a total of 1,580 private and commercial vehicles were involved in the accidents.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Alice Gyamfi, Regional MTTU Commander, who told the Ghana News Agency on Thursday, said the figure showed a decrease compared to 2007 data of 1,783 accidents. Giving a breakdown of the 2008 data, she said the Ashaiman office recorded the highest of 346 followed by Sakumono which had 227 accident cases.

The Tema main office recorded 212 accidents, Railways and Ports, 126 accidents, Community "2" MTTU office 95 accidents, Dodowa 91 accidents and Prampram 79 accidents.

Ada, Tema Manhean and Kpone MTTU offices also recorded 49, 42 and 20 accidents cases respectively. The Regional Commander indicated that a total of 148 drivers were prosecuted at the courts during the year out of which 80 were convicted to a fine and one was jailed. She said the convicted cases yielded a total of GH¢5,174.72 in fines and forty-six cases were still on trail. ASP Gyamfi said, most of the cases involved drunk driving, careless driving and over-speeding. She attributed the decrease in the cases to the intensification of the Unit's educational programmes at lorry parks, markets, schools, churches and organisations.

She said her outfit also embarked on a number of highway checks on the Aflao, Akosombo and Tema beach roads as well as the motorway. The Regional Commander commended drivers for cooperating with them during such checks and advised them to comport themselves on the road to further reduce accident cases this year. She said the unit had no towing vehicle and therefore depended on private companies to tow accident vehicles, a practice which causes a lot of inconvenience to the police and road users especially when it involves an articulator truck. She therefore appealed to the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) to provide more parking spaces for vehicles especially harbour trucks, taxis and other commercial vehicles. ASP Gyamfi noted that parking on the shoulders of the road also provided hideouts for criminals to operate.