THE Regional National Road Safety Commission, the MTTU of the Ghana Police Service and other players in the transport industry have expressed concern about the increasing rate of road accidents in the metropolis and other parts of the Western Region.
In the year 2008, the region recorded a total of 673 accidents involving 904 vehicles, which claimed about 155 lives.
A total of 209 lives were lost as a result of 1,135 reported accidents between 2006 and 2007.
They attributed the problems to impatient driving, lack of maintenance, as well as the desire by commercial drivers to make excessive takings and so disregard road safety regulations.
According to the Regional Director of National Road Safety Commission, Mr Bismark Boakye, due to the investor interest in the region, vehicular traffic had increased and there was the need for drivers to adopt defensive driving approach.
He said many of the accidents could have been be avoided if the drivers had respect for road safety regulations.
“Because the drivers and their vehicle owners are highly profit-oriented, it is difficult for them to update themselves and keep their vehicles in good shape,“ he said.
As a result, he said the country continued to lose valuable human resource needed to steer the affairs of the country.
“I wonder why the owners could not sacrifice a day’s takings to rest and maintain their vehicles,” he asked.
Taking a critical look at the figures, he said the accidents normally occurred during festive occasions, when drivers, in their desire to maximise takings, tried to make as many trips as possible in a day.
“We are dealing with machines that are yearly updated by the manufacturers. Therefore, once we have adopted these technologies, there is the need to constantly maintain them,” he said.
He said every vehicle had the stipulated load to carry, but the drivers and their masters had devised ways of beating the system at the expense of innocent passengers.
Mr Boakye said in the first quarter of every year, reported cases were low and that the first quarter of 2008 recorded only 87 accidents involving 120 vehicles and 13 deaths.
“In the second quarter ending June 30, 2008, the figure jumped from 87 to 216 cases involving 210 vehicles with 55 deaths,” he said.
He said also that in the same quarter, more than 208 people sustained various degrees of injury.
The regional director indicated due to the busy nature of the run-up to the elections, which started from September 30, 2008 and the Christmas festivities, a total of 419 accidents, involving 574 vehicles by end of December 31, 2008, occurred.
This, he said, claimed a total of 87 lives and other fatalities, as well as serious degrees of injury.
Mr Boakye said there was also an increase in the number of pedestrians knocked down in the metropolis.
This he attributed to the lackadaisical attitude of pedestrians, especially around the Takoradi Central Market.
Mr Boakye said although the pedestrians needed to be alert, they could be blamed much because the bigger picture was that the city authorities had failed to keep hawkers off the shoulders of the road.
This, he said, did not augur well for a city trying to assume world class status.
“If the people themselves did not see the need to keep off the streets and always confront city authorities, then we are in a serious trouble,” he said.
He, therefore, reminded Ghanaians that much as metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies had a role to play to keep their localities less congested, it was incumbent on members of the public to ensure that they played their part by respecting laid-down rules.
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