Ghana to place third in global accident, if...

Accra, Aug. 14, GNA - Ghana is likely to place third in global road traffic accidents by 2020 if nothing was done to reverse the frightening statistics.

A recent study in five African countries, including Ghana showed that whilst vehicle population had increase from 26 percent to 63 percent, road accidents had also risen from 15 percent to as high as 70 percent.

Giving an overview of the situation in Accra on Friday, Ms May Obiri-Yeboah, Planning/Education Manager said six persons were killed in road accidents daily and one out of six registered vehicle was recorded in an accident.

She made this known at a day's seminar on road safety for senior police officers of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) in Accra. Ms Obiri-Yeboah said 43 percent of persons killed annually were pedestrians and 21 percent of those deaths involved children below the age of 16 years.

Seventy percent or persons killed, according to her, were males. Ms. Obiri-Yeboah said the country recorded 127,182 road accidents between 1991-2004 of which 17,126 deaths were reported. She said the vehicle population is estimated to increase to 1.2 million in 2010, and 12,000 persons could be killed in road accidents whilst more than 40,000 people would be injured.

Speaking on the role of police in road safety education, Alhaji Mustapha Gariba, Coordinator of the Greater Accra Regional Road Safety Commission said it was the duty of the police to know all the emergency services in their locality in order to carry out effective work. He said the statistics were frightening and therefore it was the police responsibility to bring them down adding "Arming yourself with knowledge about the emergency services is paramount, significant and important in your duty as traffic police.

He said market days were important in the police calendar saying, "Identify these days in the areas of your jurisdiction, deploy your men or women to control and manage the traffic." 14 Aug. 05