Road Fatalities Decline

May Obiri-Yeboah, Executive Director of the NRSC
Road related fatalities have witnessed a decline according to a National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) mid-year review meeting in Ho, Volta Region.

According to NRSC, there is an encouraging trend of reduction in the number of road traffic related deaths (fatalities) and injuries.

The National half-year road safety situation reflects a reduction in the number of persons killed (fatalities) and injured compared with the same period last year, the Commission disclosed.

By the close of June, a total of 963 and 6,317 persons have died and sustained injuries respectively through Road Traffic Crashes (RTCs), representing a seven percent and two percent in deaths and injuries respectively, the Commission added in a press release.

During the first-half of the year, Upper West, Upper East, Ashanti, Central and Northern regions all recorded declines in fatality (death) figures by 35%, 28%, 24%, 20% and 12% respectively over the same period last year.

In terms of the regional targets for the mid-year, the statement said, ‘Ashanti recorded the highest reduction of 43% in road traffic related deaths followed by Upper East and Eastern regions with 5% and 4% reductions respectively.

May Obiri-Yeboah, Executive Director of the NRSC, pointed out that ‘the half-year situation is encouraging but not enough. We must continue to work hard towards our end of year projections if we are to meet our goals under the National Road Safety Strategy III (NRSSIII). We must continue to be guided by data in all our activities, increase our engagements with our stakeholders on strategic regional concerns, step up advocacy for the ”Be Alert. Speak-up’-Passenger Empowerment Campaign and awareness for the use of the lollipop stands among other interventions.’

For the next half year, the release disclosed that the Commission will continue to focus on advocacy for best road user practices, especially in the core areas of passenger safety, pedestrian safety and the safe use of motorcycles, which together account for almost 75% of our national road safety challenges in order to achieve our target for the year.

Road safety, the Commission went on, remains a developmental issue with consequences for our health, tourism, national image and most of all our growth and poverty reduction efforts.