The Central Regional office of the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) has launched “save lives and cost” a new campaign aimed at curbing the rate of road crashes in the country.

It is being undertaken in collaboration with Ghana Oil Company Limited (GOIL) and Bidi Group Limited to support public education on road safety with the sharing of additional information on the existing public education.

As part of the campaign, the NRSA would be carrying out public education at various locations in the region while items at GOIL shops had been embossed with road safety messages to achieve the needed target.

In an address at the launch, the Regional Manager of the NRSA, Mrs Linda Afotey-Annang, explained that the collaboration involved in the project underscored the need for all stakeholders to work together in order to deal with the challenging rate of road crashes in the country.

She indicated that the region recorded 470 road accidents involving 817 vehicles and 108 pedestrian knockdowns between January and July, this year.

According to her, 145 people were killed while 824 individuals suffered injuries as a result of the road crashes.

She said: “Compared with the same period in 2019, there was a two-per cent reduction in the number of crashes reported, 27 per cent reduction for pedestrian knockdowns as well as a three per cent for the injured.”

Mrs Afotey-Annang, however, said the number of persons killed as a result of the crashes increased by 48 per cent, saying,” This is quite disturbing, particularly for the involvement of vehicles associated with public transportation.

“We have a collective responsibility to work together to make the road safe for ourselves as well as the public. Strong partnerships with corporate citizens often send the right signal that we care about the profit but also care for the society,” she said.

She expressed optimism that the initiative would motivate other corporate bodies to partner with the NRSA in implementing other road safety campaigns.

In his remarks, the second-in-command at the Central Region MTTD, ASP Bismark John Setuchie, urged transport operators to observe all road safety precautions in order to minimise the rate of road accidents.

He cautioned that the police would arrest and prosecute drivers who flouted road safety regulations, saying, “We are ready to deal with all road safety offenders in this country.”

He commended the NRSA and the corporate bodies working to sensitise the public on road safety precautions and urged the public to support efforts in reducing the rate of road crashes.