W/R records 673 road accidents in 2008

Mr. Thomas Bismark Boakye, Western Regional Co-ordinator of the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) on Thursday stated that 673 road accidents including 354 minor cases were reported in
the region last year.

Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Takoradi, he said 904 vehicles were involved in the accidents which resulted in 155 deaths and 777 injuries.

Mr. Boakye said 109 of the injuries were fatal while 205 were serious cases.

He said 13 deaths were recorded in the first quarter, 55 deaths in the second quarter and 42 and 45 deaths in the third and fourth quarters respectively.

Mr. Boakye said 87 accidents were reported in the first quarter, 167 in the second, 216 in the third and 203 in the fourth, adding that 120 vehicles were involved in the accidents in the first quarter, 210 vehicles in the second quarter while 262, and 312 vehicles were involved in the third and fourth quarters respectively.

He said twelve of the fatal accidents were recorded in the first quarter, 32 in the second quarter, 32 in the third quarter and 33 in the fourth quarter while 35, 50, 54 and 66 of the serious accidents were recorded in the first, second, third and fourth quarters respectively.

Mr. Boakye said 35, 85, 130 and 104 of the minor accidents were recorded in the first, second, third and fourth quarters respectively.

He said the region occupied the eighth position in accidents cases in the country in the third quarter of last year and effort would be made to reduce accidents in the region this
year.