Winneba (C/R), Dec. 25, GNA - The Awutu-Effutu-Senya District of the Central Region recorded few accidents in the last six months of 2004 but with more deaths than in the same period in 2003.

Nineteen people died in 54 accidents in the same period of July to December 2004, as against 9 deaths in 77 accidents cases in 2003.

Mr Nicholas Gasu, Winneba District Police Commander, who disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency in an interview on Sunday said that 92 vehicles were involved in accidents in 2003, injuring 141 persons, while in the year 2004, 62 vehicles had accidents and injured 24 passengers. Mr Gasu explained that an accident that occurred in August 2004 on the Winneba-Kasoa road alone killed 11 passengers and injured over twenty, swelling the death rate of accident victims in 2004.

The Police commander said, despite the increases in the accident victims in 2004, personnel from the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit of the police's intensive traffic education for drivers in the area, played a meaningful role in the reduction of the number of accidents. He told drivers in the area to be extra careful on the roads and also stop over-speeding, overloading and wrong overtaking and respect road signs regulations to avoid accidents during the Christmas period and beyond.

The chairman of the Awutu-Effutu-Senya District chairman of the Ghana Private Transport Union GPRTU) of TUC, Mr Kofi Attah in another interview with GNA appealed to the government to rehabilitate the Senya Beraku-Gyanagyanadze-Winneba road to make it motorable for vehicles ply the area.

Mr Kofi Attah also appealed to government to liaise with the contractors engaged on the rehabilitation of the Winneba-Kasoa-Accra to allow vehicles to use the completed portion on the road because the bad nature of the bye-pass was damaging their vehicles.