Fifty-eight people were killed in road accidents in the Ashanti Region in the first quarter of this year.
This figure falls below the National Road Safety Commission’s (NRSC) target of 95 for the first quarter.
Forty-two of the victims were males aged 18 and above, while 16 of them were females, also aged above 18.
A total of 373 cases of road accidents were recorded and the breakdown are as follows; 132 in January, 99 in February and 142 in March.
Out of the number, 80 people were pedestrians who had been knocked down by vehicles.
The Ashanti Regional Director of the NRSC, Mr Thomas Bismark Boakye, who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic in Kumasi, said the total number of people who got injured in road accidents in the first quarter was 388.
He indicated that 72 motorbikes, 299 commercial vehicles, and 199 private vehicles were involved in accidents in the quarter.
He cautioned drives against the misuse of trade licences as spelt out in Section 50 of the Road Traffic Act, 2004 (Act 683), saying that drivers who used Defective from Port (DP) number plates were not supposed to use their vehicles for commercial activities.
He further said those who used Defective Vehicle (DV) number plates were to register their vehicles after a period of 30 days, stressing that both DP and DV vehicles were not supposed to be used for weddings, funerals, picnics and could not even be used on the roads on holidays and weekends.
Mr Boakye explained that both DP and DV vehicles were not to carry family members and schoolchildren to and from school until registered.
He reiterated the need for drivers of DP and DV vehicles to always make sure they had logbooks to record their journeys within the period before the registration at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA).
Again, he said both DP and DV vehicles were to operate from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., and warned all road users, especially aggressive drivers, not to flout traffic regulations, vehemently affirming that the NRSC and the Ghana Police Service (GPS), as a law enforcement body, would not condone any wrongdoing as it would make sure the law took its full course.
He, however, commended the Ashanti Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Mr Nathan Kofi Boakye, for collaborating with the NRSC to ensure that the carnage on the roads was stemmed.
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