By Philip Tengzu
Wa, (UW/R), July 20, GNA – The National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), has observed that Ghana is losing so much in human capital through road crashes, which is a source of worry.
“Imagine the country trains a medical doctor or a teacher and the person dies through road accidents, that is a big loss to the state because that person could have contributed to the growth of the national economy,” it explained.
Mr Zachariah Laary, the Acting Upper West Regional Director of the NRSA, who made the observation in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Wa, therefore called for more efforts and collaboration between stakeholders to win the fight against road crashes in the country.
Statistics from the Upper West Regional Office of the NRSA indicated that in the first and second quarters of 2023, a total of 55 road crashes were recorded compared to 51 within the same period in 2022.
According to the data, 13 fatal cases and 20 deaths involving 86 vehicles were recorded within that period in 2023 while 20 fatal cases and 22 deaths involving 87 cars were recorded within the same period in 2022.
Mr Laary blamed human attitude for the road crashes recorded in the region as some motorists and pedestrians disregarded road signs and regulations when using the roads.
He told the GNA that with the passage of the new NRSA Legislative Instrument (LI) 2486, the Authority had been empowered to enforce road safety regulations towards reducing the spate of road crashes in the country.
“Accidents are inevitable but what do you do, you have to try to minimise the impact. Gladly, our LI has been passed and I think that in the coming months, actions will be rolled out,” he stated.
He said with the new LI, they would be inspecting inter-city buses and providing them with a checklist to ensure the right thing was done by the transport operators before embarking on the journeys.
He said vehicles that were not fit for the road would not be allowed to travel as part of measures to minimize accidents on the road.
Mr Larry observed that tiredness was one of the causes of road accidents and the Authority had introduced a vehicle logbook to track the acceleration of the vehicles on the road.
Mr Michael Oppong Kyekyeku, Assistant Planning Manager of the Upper West Regional NRSA, said five accidents were recorded in the region involving inter-city buses in the second quarter of 2023.
He said that was a concern considering the number of passengers those buses carry at a time and the number of deaths and injuries that would be recorded if it involved in an accident.
Mr Kyekyeku indicated that the Authority would not relent in its efforts in educating the public on road safety measures.
He also appealed to stakeholders including the media to strengthen their activities towards curbing the menace of road crashes in the region.
GNA