Koforidua, July 3, GNA - Fifty six people died while 661 others were injured in accidents involving 460 vehicles in the second quarter of the year in the Eastern Region.

Superintendent James Sarfo-Peprah, Eastern Regional Commanding Officer of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Police Service, who told the Ghana News Agency, (GNA) in an interview at Koforidua, at the weekend, complained that in spite of the numerous road safety educational programmes for drivers, the region still records a high number of accident cases.

Supt Sarfo-Peprah indicated that his outfit would, however, continue to run series of such training programmes to help reduce the rate of accidents.

He attributed many of the accidents to over-speeding, wrongful overtaking, fatigue and drunkenness on the part of some drivers and cautioned that a lot of measures would be put in place to redress the situation.

Supt Sarfo-Peprah said another worrying situation was the high number of pedestrians knocked down by motorists and attributed the situation to the refusal of drivers to adhere to the 50 kilometres per hour speed limit in cities, towns and villages.

He warned that his outfit would not spare any driver who flouts the road safety law, saying that, more officers had been assigned to some vantage points to ensure that drivers comply with the road and traffic regulations to make the roads safer.