The accident vehicle
A total of 232 deaths were recorded from road crashes in January 2022, as against 244 in January last year, representing a 4.92 per cent decrease in deaths recorded within the same period.
The deaths involved 179 males and 53 females with 34 of them being below the age of 18 and 198, above 18 years.
The Ashanti Region recorded 44 deaths, making it the region with the highest number of deaths, followed by the Greater Accra Region with 31 deaths.
Both the Eastern and Western North regions recorded 25 deaths.
The remaining regions had their number of deaths being less than 20, with the North East region recording no death.
In all, 1,237 road crash injuries were captured within January 2022, whilst in January last year, the number of injuries stood at 1,393.
This figure represents a decrease of more than 11 per cent of road crash injuries.
Crashes
Road crashes recorded in 2022 were 1,271, representing an increase of 3.84 per cent compared to 1,224 crashes in January 2021.
The Greater Accra Region recorded the highest number of road crashes with 463 crashes, followed by the Ashanti Region with 298 crashes.
The Eastern Region recorded 115 crashes.
The remaining regions had their recorded number of crashes below 90 with six as the least number of crashes recorded in Oti and the North East region.
Out of the number of crashes recorded in January 2022, 707 of them were commercial vehicles whilst in January 2021, 747 of the crashes involved commercial vehicles, representing a decrease of 5.35 per cent.
In the case of road crashes caused by private vehicles, 972 cases were recorded whereas in January 2021, 837 private vehicles were involved in the crashes, representing an increase of 16.13 per cent of road crashes involving private vehicles in January 2022.
‘Stay alive’
Mr David Osafo Adonteng, Director in charge of Planning and Programming at the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), was quoted by the GNA as saying a lot of efforts went into reducing the crashes, especially during the latter part of 2021 to the early part of this year.
Mr Adonteng attributed the reduction in figures to the “stay alive” campaign, dubbed “Gyai obonsam edwuma no”.
He said the campaign seeks to bring Ghanaians together to advocate change in road user behaviour and to remove anxiety among policy initiators, developers, and implementers.
Mr Adonteng expressed worry about the increasing activities of motorcycle riders on the road, saying “out of the number of deaths recorded in road crashes, over 42 per cent of the deaths come from motorcycle and tricycle users.”
Credit: GNA
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