1856 pedestrians killed in 2014

Source: Daily Graphic  - The National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) has raised alarm about the increasing pedestrian knockdowns in the country.
According to the Commission, in 2014 alone, 2,571 people were knocked down by vehicles that caused 13,133 road accidents in which 11, 328 were injured and 1856 died. The accidents involved 20,442 vehicles.

Presenting the figures at the Greater Accra NRSC 2015 Work Plan meeting in Accra yesterday, the Greater Accra Manager of the Commission, Mr Daniel H. Wuaku, said the region had now taken over from the Ashanti Region as the region with the highest national accident figures.

The programme was meant to review the commission’s performance last year and discuss the strategies for this year. It brought together participants from institutions such as the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA),Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service the Department of Urban Roads (DUR), the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA),

the National Ambulance Service (NAS), the transport unions and the Ghana National Fire Service(GNFS). The number of pedestrians knocked down means an average of seven people were knocked down daily on the country’s roads last year, with approximately five deaths daily.

It also means that on the average about 36 accidents occur on the country’s roads every day and almost two accidents every hour.

Similarly, 31 people were injured every day, in the road accidents that involved 56 vehicles daily.

In 2013, there were 2,642 pedestrian knockdowns from 14,390 road accidents in which 2,058 people died and injured 12,655 others.

A comparative analysis of the 2013 and 2014 accident statistics, however, indicated a slight reduction in the figures in 2014.

A regional breakdown puts the Greater Accra Region tops in road fatalities with 1,190 pedestrian knockdowns, 340 deaths and 2,968 injuries from 5,041 road accidents. The figure represents close to 50 per cent of the national accident statistics.

The Eastern and Ashanti Regions follow with 326 and 232 pedestrian knockdowns and 255 and 251 deaths respectively.

The region with the least knocked downs was the Northern Region, which, however, had 124 people killed from road crashes.

In the Greater Accra Region, the Commission has identified four roads as the flash points for pedestrian knockdowns.

The George Walker Bush Motorway, the Kwame Nkrumah Circle-Nsawam Highway, the Kwame Nkrumah Circle-Mallam Highway, the Accra –Tema Motorway, the Shiashie Pantang and Awoshie-Pokuase have between them the worse pedestrian knockdowns.

According to Mr Wuaku although vehicles left on the shoulders of the road contribute to road accidents, they appeared to have contributed less to the casualty rates, compared to pedestrian knockdowns.

He, therefore, called on stakeholders in the roads safety programmes to collaborate with the Commission to reduce the accident figures.

To curtail the situation, Mr Wuaku said, the Commission would concentrate on four focus areas—improved road safety management and promotion of stakeholders’ commitment, promotion of safer roads and mobility, develop knowledge and skills of road users to change behaviour and also enforcement.

He also appealed to the (MTTD to arrest and prosecute pedestrians who crossed roads under footbridges.