• Ghana recorded 9,520 road crashes between January 1, and July 31, 2021
• Two fatal accidents recorded in a space of 24 hours
• Causes of road crashes attributed to drink-driving, fatigue
driving, dangerous driving, careless driving, speeding and others
Annual casualty numbers in terms of road crash in Ghana has always been a matter of grave concern.
The country in a space of 24 hours, between Monday, November 1, 2021, and Tuesday, November 2, 2021, witnessed two road crashes that claimed the lives of some 23 persons.
The accident which occurred at 3 am on Monday morning, November 1, 2021, resulted in the death of 10 children, 6 female adults and a male adult.
According to reports by Angelonline.com.gh, the accident happened after a MAN Diesel vehicle heading toward Kumasi collided with a Sprinter bus heading towards Accra.
The Head of the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) in the Ashanti Region, Simbiatu Wiredu, confirming the news said, “Seventeen (17) other persons are also injured and have been rushed to the Offinso Hospital for treatment while the dead are in the morgue.”
“Of the seven adults, one is a male while six are females…two children (males) died and eight females who are also children also died…,” she said further.
Six burnt to death, 22 injured in accident at Akomadan
Less than a day after the Offinso accident, six other persons perished in another accident in which a bus caught fire following a crash.
On Tuesday, November 2, 2021, the accident occurred at Akomadan near Offinso in the Ashanti Region.
In a later release confirming the incident, the National Road Safety said the casualty recorded in the accident was twenty-nine (29) made up of six (6) deaths and twenty-three injuries (23).
“The crash involved a 45-seater commercial service Yulong Bus with registration number (GT4215-17) heading towards Kumasi from Nandom in the Upper West Region and another Kia Truck with registration number GB6983-12 travelling from Kumasi to Techiman,” the statement said.
The NRSA in its statement revealed the cause of the accident based on its preliminary investigation points to “speeding and driver fatigue as possible contributory factors to the crash.”
Over 1,700 dead in first seven months of 2021
Ghana between January 1, and July 31, 2021, Ghana recorded up to 9,520 motor crashes involving 16,226 vehicles.
These crashes resulted in the death of some 1,706 persons while 9,299 others suffered various forms of injuries in these accidents.
The Head of Education, Research and Training at the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service, Superintendent Alexander Obeng, said human factors such as drink-driving, fatigue driving, dangerous driving, careless driving, speeding, wrongful overtaking, poor vision, mobile phone usage, disregard for road signs and markings, overloading, and pedestrian and vehicle conflicts were among factors that led to those motor crashes.
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
