The total number of persons killed in various car accidents in the Upper West Region have increased marginally from 57 deaths in 2018 to 58 in 2019.

Out of the 57 deaths recorded in 2018, 48 were males and five females above 18 years, while the 58 deaths recorded in 2019 comprised 39 males and 12 females also above 18 years.

The rest were children under 18 years.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP),Mr Francis Aboagye Nyarko, the Upper West Regional Police Commander told the GNA in an interview in Wa on Friday.

The statistics from the regional office of the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service also indicated that the total number of persons injured increased from 182 in 2018 to a total of 287 in 2019.

The Regional MTTD/Wa recorded the highest number of 34 and 28 deaths in 2018 and 2019 respectively whilst Nadowli District and Lawra Municipality contributed seven and 10 deaths to the records in the respective years.

For pedestrian knockdowns, 2018 recorded 15 knockdown cases out of which seven were killed and eight persons injured, while 2019 recorded an increase of 17 knockdown cases of which eight were killed and nine injured.

Meanwhile, total number of cases reported increased from 123 cases in 2018 to 154 cases in 2019, while total number of vehicles involved also recorded an increase from 197 vehicles to 229 vehicles respectively.

However, fatal cases reported decreased from 54 in 2018 to 43 in 2019 whilst total number of serious cases shot up from 43 cases to 80 cases respectively.

Minor cases equally saw a rise from 26 to 31 cases in the respective years. In 2018, out of the 197 vehicles involved in various accidents, 53 of them were commercial, 47 private and 97 motorbikes, whilst in 2019, 44 were commercial, 61 private and 124 motorbikes.

While all the nine police Districts recorded cases of accidents in 2018, three of them namely; Tumu, Funsi and Wechiau Districts all recorded zero cases in 2019 according to the statistics.

Narrow roads, non-compliance with road traffic regulations and speeding are some of the reasons contributing to accidents in the region according to the MTTD.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Mr Francis Aboagye Nyarko advised drivers and vehicle owners to ensure proper maintenance of their cars to avoid needless accidents to protect human life.

He cautioned drivers against drunk driving, noting that the practice put human life in danger and should not be entertained by drivers.

DCOP Nyarko said the police administration would strengthen the MTTD with both logistics and human resource to carry out its mandate of ensuring sanity on the roads.