The National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) has disclosed that approximately 1,237 people died from road crashes between January and June 2024.
According to the NRSA, many of these fatalities resulted from wrongful overtaking and drivers’ failure to observe traffic signs.
Pearl Adusu Sateckla, Head of Public Relations at the NRSA, described the situation as “worrying.”
“The contributory factor might be as a result of head-on-collision, and head-on-collision is as a result of wrongful overtaking and overspeeding. Research has shown that about 90% of our drivers plying our roads in the country do not adhere to the speed limits in the country.
“When the speed is high, the severity of the crash is so much,” the Head of Public Relations at the NRSA said.
A summary of the provisional national traffic crash and casualty statistics indicates that a total of 6,653 road traffic crashes were reported from January to June 2024. These crashes involved 11,283 vehicles of all categories (Private, Commercial, Motorbikes/Cycles, etc.), and 8,798 casualties (1,237 fatalities/deaths and 7,561 injuries).
Knockdowns decreased by 4%, 4.5%, 3.8% and 1% respectively from January to June 2024 whilst persons killed increased by 13% when compared to the same period of 2023.
In June, 21 (12%) persons killed were below 18 years whilst 150 (88%) were reported to have been adults (above) 18 years. Likewise, from January to June, 149 (12%) persons killed were below the age of 18 years whilst 1088 (88%) were reported to have been adults (above 18 years).
This indicates that for every seven (7) adults (above 18 years) killed, a child (below 18 years) is killed revealing a relatively high road traffic death ratio (7:1) for adults than for children within the period. This is partly due to the high risk of exposure of adults to traffic incidences as compared to children.
According to the statistics, Bono Region recorded the highest percentage increase in crashes by 41.5% from January to June 2024 compared to the same period of 2023. Upper East Region recorded the highest percentage decrease with 41.2%.
Oti Region had the highest percentage increase of 500% followed by the Savannah Region with 288.9% increase. Upper West recorded no change and Northern Region recorded the highest decrease in Injuries sustained by 100% each in the number of injuries sustained within the period.
Generally, except for persons killed which recorded an increase of 13%, there have been decreases in all other indicators from January to June 2024 when compared to the same period of 2023.
It must be emphasized that the Greater Accra Region recorded a significant drop in of fatalities of 11.7% compared to 2023.
Ashanti Region, on the other hand, recorded a hike in deaths (131) resulting in 67.5% increase compared to same period in 2023. Despite Greater Accra experiencing more than double (200%) the number of crashes recorded in the Eastern Region over the past six months, the Eastern Region still surpasses Greater Accra in terms of deaths.
From the analyses, for every 100 crashes, Eastern Region recorded 27 deaths as against 10 deaths for the Greater Accra Region.
In a statement, the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) Ghana called on the government to urgently constitute a committee to thoroughly investigate the entire chain of events leading to recent road accidents and make its findings public.