Road accidents claims 1,539 lives in 2013-NRSC
Mr. Daniel Wuaku, Greater Accra Regional Manager of the National Road Safety Commission said 1,539 people lost their lives between January and September 2013, while 9,741 reported injured as a result of road accidents.
He said statistics for the country from January to September this year stood at 10,558 cases of road accidents and that between January 2000 and December 2010, 20,503 people died on the roads in the country while 63,384 were reported injured.
Mr. Wuaku revealed this on Thursday at the 4th Regional Road Safety Awards in Accra on the theme “Safe Transport System-The Role of Commercial Transport Operators and the Media”.
He said in Greater Accra, the statistics indicated that 5,336 accidents cases had been recorded, 298 people lost their lives and 2,452 people sustained various degrees of injuries.
He said the theme was timely because commercial operators owe the citizens of the country the moral responsibility to be professional in the discharge of their work and show respect to the laws governing the operation of vehicles and the use of roads.
Mr. Wuaku stated that the awards is an annual event instituted by the Commission four years ago to recognise the efforts of transport organisations that have embraced and raised the profile of road safety within their fleet of operations.
He noted that it was the responsibilities of drivers to ensure vehicle, hazard trip record and time-tested management.
Mr. Wuaku said the Commission would continue to organise educational campaigns and collaborate with other stakeholders to step up enforcement at lorry stations and on the road across the region since road safety promotion is a process of enabling people to increase control over their safety and improve upon it.
Mr. Julius Debrah, Greater Accra Regional Minister praised the NRSC for its good works and urged all road users to take part in measures to ensure safety on the roads.
He called for more education on the use of vehicles on the roads since the total number of vehicles in the country increased on daily basis.
Ms May Obiri-Yeboah, Executive Director of the Commission condemned the high spate of accidents on the roads, most of which were caused by human errors.
She urged drivers to take road safety regulations seriously and appealed to Ghanaians, especially stakeholders, to ensure that the roads were safe for all.
Great Imperial Transport Services emerged winner of the 2013 Regional Road Safety award, while Metro Mass came second and VIP Transport followed with the third position.
Other transport services like Chisco Transport Services, Ghana Co-operative Transport Association, State Transport Services, Ghana Private Road Transport Union and OA Transport Services received certificates of participation.