The National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) has said it is seeking to reduce the number of road accident deaths by more than one thousand this year.
According to the Commission, it has identified over-speeding as a major cause of accidents in the country, being responsible for over 60% of them.
Two fatal accidents which occurred over the weekend killed about nineteen people, including four final year trainee nurses.
One of the accidents, which occurred yesterday [Sunday, March 13, 2017] at Gomoa Mpromem, in the Central Region left 15 people dead.
Commenting on the latest development in an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show, the Executive Director of the National Road Safety Commission, May Obiri Yeboah said more critical measures needed to be put in place to prevent drivers from speeding.
“Since 2007, we set our yearly targets [for reducing death from road accidents]. This year, our target is one thousand, two hundred and eighty, not more than 1,280 people should die. All of us contribute to reducing that target, if I do my education, and sanitization but you as a road user, you do not do your part in bringing accidents down, we cannot achieve our target.”
The Commission in its appraisal of events in 2016 described as “overwhelming” the rate of rate road accidents recorded within the period.
The Commission said it recorded over 11,000 road accidents; about 2,000 more cases from the 2015 figure of about 9,000.
Its statistics indicated that the cases of road accidents in the country surged incredibly in December, owing to election-related events.
Meanwhile, the Police in Apam are optimistic the arrest of the driver alleged to be responsible for the fatal accident at Gomoa Mpromem, will help with in investigations.
–
By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @jnyabor