By Eric Appah Marfo
Accra, June 26, GNA – The National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) has renewed its call for increased government funding to sustain nationwide education, enforcement, engineering, and emergency response campaigns aimed at reducing road traffic crashes and fatalities.Â
Mrs Pearl Adusu Sateckla, the Public Relations Officer of the NRSA, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said lapses within road safety institutions, due to low funding, were directly linked to spikes in crash rates.
“The moment we relax in our work, when education drops, enforcement is weak, engineering is poorly done, and emergency services are unavailable, crashes increase. And all of that boils down to funding,” she said.
Mrs Sateckla added that although road safety campaigns had evolved over time, more investment was needed to leverage new media and make campaigns more engaging and effective.
“We must begin leveraging new media and even collaborate with content creators to make road safety education more exciting and far-reaching. People find safety messages boring, but with the right approach, we can change that perception,” she noted.
The NRSA’s National Road Traffic Crash and Casualty Situation Statistics report, says 1,267 lives were lost between January and May 2025, up from 1,066 in the corresponding period last year.
Road crash incidents rose by 8.9 per cent, with 6,111 cases recorded, up from 5,609 in 2024.
These involved 10,378 vehicles; private, commercial, and motorcycles, and resulted in 8,278 casualties, including 1,267 deaths and 7,011 injuries.
Private vehicles were involved in 41 per cent of the crashes, followed by commercial vehicles (34 per cent) and motorcycles (25 per cent).
Crash involvement increased across all vehicle types: motorcycles by 21.1 per cent, commercial vehicles by seven per cent, and private vehicles by 3.1 per cent.
Mrs Sateckla said the surge in motorcycle-related crashes by over 21 per cent was partly due to gaps in sustained national campaigns.
She stressed that a proactive and well-resourced strategy, combining education, enforcement, and engineering, was essential to curbing preventable road traffic deaths.
The NRSA is also collaborating with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) to enforce vehicle roadworthiness through roadside checks on tyres, insurance, structural defects, and expired seatbelts.
As part of decentralising road safety management, the NRSA is partnering with Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to form local committees that tackle area-specific risks.
“So far, 85 to 90 per cent of the districts have been engaged. This will help shift some of the burden from the national to the local level,” she said.
Mrs Sateckla called for greater collaboration with the media, urging a mutual investment in road safety storytelling to raise public awareness.
She appealed to all road users, especially drivers, to always endeavour to keep in mind the COAT; “Concentrate, be Observant, Anticipate the unexpected, and be Tolerant when using the road,” she advised.
GNA
Edited by Agnes Boye-Doe