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Road death toll for 2000 - 2006 numbers in the thousands
Accra, Oct. 20, Ghanadot/GNA - Eleven thousand, nine hundred
and sixty-two persons were killed, while 33,805 were injured
in 70,534 road accidents reported due to reckless driving
between the year 2000 and 2006, Mr Daniel O Adonteng, Deputy
Director, Research, Monitoring and Evaluation of the
National Road Safety Commission, said on Friday.
He gave these statistics at the celebration of the
International Road Transport Action Campaign Week in Accra,
on the theme: "Organizing globally, building union power,
correcting indiscipline on our roads, eradicating the
carnage and addressing the undue delay at our frontiers".
The programme, organized by the Federation of Transport
Unions of Ghana (FTU) and sponsored by Unique Insurance
Company, Metro Mass Transport Ltd. and the Ghana Ports and
Harbours Authority, is to serve as a platform to ensure
cohesion in the transport sector to enhance transportation
in Ghana and the West African neighbours.
Mr Adonteng said with the country's vehicle population
rising to 1.2 million by 2010, it was estimated that 12,000
persons could be killed in road accidents, while move than
40,000 would be injured.
He pinpointed unnecessary over-taking, driving above
approved speed limits, over-loading of vehicles, abandoning
broken-down vehicles on the roads without warning signs,
drunk-driving and the use of poorly maintained vehicles as
some of the basic road traffic offences that were likely to
cause accidents and advised drivers to avoid such pitfalls
as a way of reducing the carnage on the roads.
Mr Adonteng expressed concern about the high level of
indiscipline among drivers of commercial and private
vehicles and called for the creation of a "dedicated police
enforcement team" to support the National Road Safety
Committee (NRSC) to enforce the laws to minimize fatal road
accidents.
He also suggested the establishment of road safety call
centres, a "National Driver Academy" and the inclusion of
road safety education in the curriculum of basic schools in
the country.
Mr Emmanuel Armstrong Mensah, Coordinator of the Federation
of Transport Unions, urged the authorities to check undue
delays of drivers at the country's borders, which was
hampering the movement of road transport organizations and
businesses across the frontiers.
Mr Kofi Asamoah, Deputy Secretary General of the Ghana
Trades Union Congress urged the transport unions in Ghana to
link up effectively with their counterparts in the West
Africa Sub-Region to help minimize the carnage on the roads
and also help to solve problems that transporters face at
the frontiers.
GNA
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