Editorial (The Daily Searchlight, Wednesday, 28th \September, 2022)
The Director of Communications at the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), Pearl Adusu Gyasi has stated that from 2000 to date, a whopping 45,000 Ghanaians painfully lost their precious lives through road accidents in Ghana.
Speaking at a workshop in Accra, Mr Gyasi likened the numbers to a filled to capacity Accra Sports Stadium crowd who have been crushed to death so miserably.
Giving further statistics, he indicated that Greater Accra, Ashanti, Eastern regions contribute 43%, 23%, 10% respectively to the deaths and injuries arising out of the crashes in that order.
He stated that in some cases the average Ghanaian driver drives 66.7% above the stipulated speed limit in Ghana. Of this, 88% of drivers in the Greater Accra defy the laid down speed limit in the region. At the same time, 29% of drivers in Kumasi are also guilty of the same offence and this puts the lives of passengers and pedestrians at greater risk.
Mr Gyasi further stated that 3,700 people die every day in the world; 50 million are injured every day, and 72 out of 100,000 people in Ghana are injured every day in the country while 8 people die on average daily through road accidents in Ghana.
These statistics are harrowing, and in any proper nation, it should cause an immediate interest in this matter towards finding a lasting solution.
Indeed, Ghana has long portrayed itself as a nation that is interested in finding a lasting solution to the carnage on our roads. However, the statistics supply the lie to the belief that the measures we are taking are enough to stem the tide.
It is therefore necessary that we evaluate and re-evaluate the measures we are taking to ensure road safety, so that we can make them effective and result-oriented.
We cannot continue to allow such carnage on our roads.
