Mankessim(C/R), April 13, GNA - Seventy-one people including 25 women died through 263 motor accidents in the first quarter of the year in the Central Region. Mr Stephen Anokye, the Central Regional Manager of the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), made this known at the launch of the "Easter Arrive Alive Campaign" at Mankessim. It was on the theme "Road traffic crashes are preventable". The two-week Campaign is part of the NRSC's strategy to promote road safety consciousness during the Easter festivities in the Region. Mr Anokye said statistics indicate that the months between April and December register the highest number of road accidents in the country, hence the campaign to help increase the awareness. He said in 2009, passengers in buses and mini buses accounted for 39 per cent of accidents while 42 per cent of road accident deaths were as a result of pedestrian knock downs.

The cause of the accidents, he said, included drink-driving, fatigue, over-loading, failure to use seat belts, wrongful over-taking and over-speeding.

He called on drivers to desist from such negative practices and to ensure that their vehicles were in good conditions before putting them on the road.

Mr Anokye said the Commission had come up with toll-free telephone numbers for the public to report careless drivers. The emergency line is 192, whiles for MTN users the number to call is 18008, for Vodafone account holders it is 080010800 and for Expresso it is 10800. The Central Regional Licensing Officer, Mr Simon Gborbidzi, said the spate of accidents in the Region was becoming alarming and therefore his office between February 17 and March 16 embarked on an exercise to inspect vehicles to determine their road worthiness. He said within the period, 617 vehicles were inspected with most of them having faulty brakes, faulty steering wheels, worn out tyres and faulty lights and they were refused certificates until they were repaired.