By Gilbert Azeem Tiroog
Bolgatanga (U/E), Jan. 31, GNA – The Upper East Region recorded 42 deaths and 217 injuries in road crashes in 2022.
These were recorded out of 135 road crashes involving 159 vehicles.
Mr John Quarshie, the Regional Principal Transport Assistant, National Road Safety Authority, made this known in a media interview in Bolgatanga.
He said 18 pedestrians were knocked down in those crashes.
In 2021, a total of 90 deaths were recorded with 358 injured from 217 road crashes, involving 257 vehicles. Twenty-eight pedestrians were knocked down.
Mr Quarshie said it was a cause of worry even if it was a single life that was lost through road accident, though there was some level of reduction compared to 2021.
He said the number of deaths were reduced by 53.33 per cent and injuries by 39.39 per cent in 2022 as against 2021, and a reduction in the number of vehicles involved by 38.13 per cent and pedestrians’ knockdowns by 35.71 per cent.
According to him, deliberate policy enforcement has resulted in the change.
“The reduction of cases could be attributed to some of the activities we embarked on in 2022. For instance, we introduced the District Task Force, which enabled us to move around all the 15 districts in the region on road safety sensitisation and this has, somewhat, reduced accidents in areas, which normally would record higher cases” he said.
The attempt by the Authority to also ensure that all illegal lamps were removed by motorists to enhance visibility also helped in the reduction in crashes.
Meanwhile the absence of road signs and markings, unavailability of streetlights on the Bolgatanga–Zuarungu road due to road works is posing danger to travelers and motorists.
On the 10th of January, this year, a pickup belonging to a gold mining company and a motor bike crashed, killing the passenger of the motor rider, with the rider sustaining multiple leg fracture.
Mr Thomas Awuni, a retired Police Inspector, who spoke to this reporter, attributed the frequent accidents on that stretch to construction errors, especially failure by contractors to put speed ramps at important points on the road to reduce speeding.
GNA