By Gilbert Azeem Tiroog
Zuarungu (U/E), April 18, GNA – An accident involving a Honda motorbike with registration number M-15-UE- 2555 and a bicycle, has left an elderly man severely injured with his left leg broken at the Zuarungu stretch of the Bolgatanga-Bawku Highway in the Upper East Region.
The man, believed to be in his 60s, was riding a bicycle towards Bawku when it collided with a motorbike headed towards Bolgatanga at about 1600 hours on Monday.
The motorbike rider, a young man, also suffered injuries and the two were taken on separate tricycles to the Ultima Platz hospital at Zuarungu in the Bolgatanga East District of the Region, where they are still receiving treatment.
Residents and eyewitnesses in the area expressed concern over the high accident frequency and called for speed rumps to slow down the speed of vehicles on the road
According to them most accidents, including the recent one, could be linked to excessive speeding by motorists because of the absence of speed ramps on that section of the highway.
Mr Abembire Akologo, a truck driver and an eyewitness of the accident, said people often linked such accidents to spiritual influences but it was poor attitude of road users and the absence of speed rumps to slow down vehicles in residential areas.
Madam Abaa Felicia, an eyewitness, said, “This stretch of the road is linked to so many major footpaths from various communities and it also a residential area with schools, so I think something has to be done to regulate the movement of vehicles, if not we will continue to record these avoidable accidents.”
Last Sunday, April 16, 2023, at about 1700 hours, a Honda motorbike and a tricycle collided on the same section of the highway resulting in multiple fractures by both passengers of the tricycle and two young men who were on the motorbike.
The penis of a male passenger on the tricycle was injured but he together with the others got immediate treatment at the Zuarungu Health Center.
Also, on January 10, 2023, two relatives on a Honda Motor bike were involved in an accident on that stretch of the road that left one dead while the other had his left leg broken.
Again, on January 14, 2023, on that same stretch of the highway, a passenger vehicle with registration number GE-5887-19 heading towards Bawku hit a man on a Honda Motor bike who was making a turn towards the Zuarungu Tua Market and broke his left leg.
These are just few incidences that the Ghana News Agency has closely monitored and reported but residents said the numbers are devastating and the need for speed ramps in the area has been long overdue.
GNA