Accra,- The Ghana Insurers Association (GIA), has called for stiffer penalties and more custodial sentences for those convicted of reckless driving and also appealed to all stakeholders to join hands to fight the canker.
Mr Kingsley Kwesi Kwabahson, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Insurers Association, who made the call in Accra, said the GIA which is the Trade Association of all licensed Insurance and Reinsurance Companies in Ghana, remained concerned about the staggering statistics on deaths and severe injuries associated with accidents through reckless driving on the roads.
He said the statistics on road crushes issued by the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), showed that there were 10,808 crashes and 2,073 fatalities (deaths) in 2019, which marked an increase of 9.8 and 2.6 percentages respectively in crashes and fatalities over that of 2018.
He said, unfortunately, the Road User Class with the highest number of deaths and severe injuries continued to be pedestrians, accounting for 36.7 per cent, followed by Motor Cycles with 28 per cent, and then bus occupants at 14.4 per cent.
The data again showed that pedestrian deaths for 2019 increased by 11.7 per cent over that of 2018, while the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service, also estimated that, there had been a total of 4009 accidents with 771 deaths during the first quarter of 2021.
Mr Kwabahson said the impact of these deaths on the economy was estimated to be about two per cent of Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product, and most importantly, “the future of a promising life turns gloomy overnight, while families, both the nuclear and external becomes destitute with dreams shattered by the death or severe injury of a breadwinner caused by a reckless driver”.
He gave some examples of road carnages where reports showed that on January 14, 2020, a Hyundai bus collided with an on-coming Man Diesel bus at Dompoase in the Central Region, when the driver of the former attempted to overtake another vehicle in a curve.
This, he said, led to the death of 34 persons made up of 20 adult males, 11 adult females, and three children, while 54 others sustained serious injuries.
Mr Kwabahson said similarly on April 14, 2021, it was reported that three hawkers were killed in an accident on the 37-Burma Camp Road in Accra by two young drivers, allegedly racing along the road.
He said the report indicated that the vehicles veered off the road, running into the group of hawkers selling along the stretch, while a day earlier, a similar accident had been reported along the Tamale-Buipe Highway precisely, at Alipe in the Central Gonja District, instantly killing 11 passengers on board a bus, he said.
He stated that it was very worrying to note that majority of these deaths and severe injuries occurred through reckless including drunken driving, jumping of red lights, and not stopping or slowing down at pedestrian or Zebra Crossing, while others were overtaking at curves facing on-coming vehicles, and stopping abruptly without signals.
He said the GIA which is the Trade Association of all licensed Insurance and Reinsurance Companies in Ghana, had dedicated the year’s International Insurance celebrations to “campaign against indiscipline and reckless driving on our roads,” and highlighting the slogan: “the carnage on our roads must stop, and it starts with you… After all, every life matters”.
This, he said was to create the needed national awareness about diverse issues related to accident and insurance, and to help curb the menace to ensure road safety for all users.
Source: Ghana News Agency
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