Ashanti Region tops road accident fatalities

Accra, Sept. 1, GNA - The National Road Safety Commission has said that Ashanti Region had the highest regional road accident fatality rate in the first half of this year.

A document made available to the Ghana News Agency said a total of 855 people were killed throughout the country during the period while 6,044 were injured.

Ashanti Region recorded 313 deaths out of accidents involving 1,919 vehicles, Greater Accra Region saw 121 deaths out of 5,037 vehicles involved in accidents and Eastern Region recorded 111 deaths out of 1,056 vehicles that were involved in accidents.

Brong Ahafo recorded 90 deaths, Central Region 71, Volta Region 42, Western Region 41, Northern Region 38, Upper East 16, and Upper West and Tema six each.

The Commission said in all the accidents more males than females died with the age group that was worst affected being between 26 and 35 years.

The document cited fatigue, overloading, bad roads and speeding as the cardinal reasons for these accidents.

Other causes of the total 10,126 vehicles that were involved in accidents nationwide are driving under the influence of alcohol and vehicles not being sighted.

In 2000 about 1,100 persons died in road accidents, rising to 1,180 in 2002 and 1,260 in 2003.

The Commission warned that with a vehicle population of 1.2 million, 12,000 persons could be killed in road accidents annually. Between 1991 and 2003, 119,182 accidents were reported killing 15,926 persons. About 138,853 persons were injured over the period.