The participants in a photograph with DCOP Kofi Boakye, Dr. Samuel Sarpong, DCOP Awuni, David Osafo Adonteng, among others.
A TOTAL of 1.3 million people are killed and about 50 million others sustain body injuries through gory vehicular accidents across the world annually, statistics have shown.
David Osafo Adonteng, Director of Research, Monitoring and Planning, National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), who gave the alarming data, disclosed that 2000 deaths are recorded on roads in Ghana every year.
He decried the upsurge in road accidents across the globe, disclosing that carnage on roads had overtaken malaria and was now at par with Tuberculosis on the causes of death chart.
Mr Osafo Adonteng cited acts of indiscipline such as over-speeding as some of the causes of the upsurge in the carnage on roads, tasking stakeholders to take proactive steps to arrest this dangerous situation.
The NRSC official was speaking during the official opening of a capacity building workshop for Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) Accident Investigators at the Police Training School in Kumasi on Monday.
The three-day workshop is being attended by 74 MTTD personnel drawn from all parts of the country. They are to study modern and effective strategies to help bring sanity on our roads.
Mr Osafo Adonteng was of the view that carnage on Ghana’s road could increase from 2,000 to 2,400 in the coming years, announcing that 1.5 million cars were currently plying Ghana’s roads.
He suggested that drivers, motorbike riders, passengers and pedestrians, ought to be tackled as soon as possible to help stop vehicular accidents on Ghana’s roads.
DCOP Kofi Boakye, the Ashanti Regional Police Commander, who was the chairman of the event, said the police lacked key equipment to adequately deal with the road carnage menace.
He bemoaned the increasing number of road accidents, adding that they had reached an epidemic level and that all should come onboard to ensure that there is decency on our roads.
DCOP Kofi Boakye said it was high time Ghana enacted new laws whereby careless drivers whose inactions caused deaths on the road would be charged for man slaughter.
The police chief said carnage on the roads in the country were becoming too much, stressing that police should be well equipped; and that road signs should be placed at vantage points to help arrest road carnage.
Ashanti Regional Minister, Samuel Sarpong, on his part, charged police MTTD personnel to display high moral values especially when they go on their duties to help save the country from vehicular accidents.
The Director General, MTTD, DCOP Angwubutoge Awuni, charged policemen to contribute to stop the spate of accidents by enforcing the road traffic laws of the country at all times.
He said the workshop was geared towards re-orienting the police traffic accident investigators and sharpening their skills on new perspectives with regard to traffic accident investigation and how to handle accident cases.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi
This article has 0 comment, leave your comment.