By Laudia Sawer, GNA
Accra, Jan 11, GNA – One hundred and twenty persons were killed through road accidents in Tema and its environs in 2018.
The figure shows a decrease of five compared to the 125 persons who lost their lives in accidents in 2017.
Chief Superintendent Joseph Owusu Bempah, Tema Police Regional Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) Commander, told the Ghana News Agency that 673 persons sustained various degrees of injury from the accidents.
Chief Supt. Bempah stated that the 120 deaths were recorded from a total of 709 accidents adding that his outfit recorded a decline as 905 accidents were documented in 2017 in the Tema Region.
The 709 accidents comprised of 114 fatal, 213 serious and 382 minor.
According to him, 358 commercial, and 628 private, in addition to 214 motor cycles were involved in the accidents in 2018.
He attributed the high nunber of private vehicles involvement in accidents to youthful exuberance as some of the drivers
lacked adequate training adding that they drove because their parents had acquired the cars and licences for them.
Chief Supt. Bempah also noted that most of them were also inexperienced and therefore did not know what to do in case of emergencies such as brake failure and tyre bursts.
He observed that unlike the commercial drivers who got refresher courses from their unions, there was nothing like that for private drivers hence some of them did not adhere to road signs and other traffic regulations.
The Tema Regional MTTU Commander further disclosed that 151 pedestrians were knocked down by vehicles in 2018 showing a decrease from the 200 knock-downs in 2017.
Forty-seven persons were killed while 104 got injured from the various knock-downs as compared to the 63 and 137 deaths and injuries respectively from 2017 knock-downs.
SOF
