Statistics available to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Koforidua indicate that 478 men died through road accidents between 2011 and 2012 as against 151 women.

In 2011, the region recorded 204 male deaths as against 66 female.

In 2012, the story was alarming as a total of 274 male lost their lives as against 85 female.

Speaking to GNA in an interview in Koforidua on Tuesday, Chief Superintendent James Sarfo-Peprah, the Eastern Regional Commanding Officer of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service, described the situation as very alarming.

He said the fatality figures of road crashes in the region were on the high side adding that something needed to be done immediately before the situation got out of hand.

Mr Sarfo-Peprah said what makes the situation more worrying was the fact that in Ghana large percentage of men are bread winners for both extended and nuclear families and situations like that could bring trauma to affected families.

He said his outfit in 2012 increased police visibility on roads, especially accident prone areas with the aim of reducing road crashes and its fatalities, but to no avail.

Mr Sarfo-Peprah said the conduct of motorists and other road users such as pedestrians, motorcycle riders and cyclists leave much to be desired, adding they were the major causes of road accidents and crashes.

He expressed concern about the continuous rise in accident cases in the region with fatalities in spite of all the numerous road safety education campaigns his outfit undertook last year.

The MTTU commander said this year his outfit would continue with the road safety campaign and cautioned that any driver who would be caught for not adhering to road safety rules and regulations would be dealt with ruthlessly.

Mr Sarfo-Peprah advised drivers and other road users, especially commercial drivers against excessive speeding, drunk driving, driving under the influence of hard drugs, non- maintenance of vehicles, driving tired, wrong overtaking, use of mobile phones while driving and other unacceptable practices.

Between 2011 and 2012, Eastern Region recorded a total of 629 deaths through road accidents involving 3,057 vehicles with 4,891 people getting injured.