The Director of Education, Research and Training at the Motor Transport and Traffic Directorate (MTTD), Superintendent Alexander Kwaku Obeng, has hinted that there has been a 16.5 per cent increase in motorcycle accidents between January to September this year.

In an interview with Mamavi on the JoyNews' AM Show, Wednesday, Superintendent Kwaku Obeng said motorcycles have become a problem in the country causing a surge in road accidents.

Comparing the number of motorcycle accidents to commercial and private vehicles, he stated that the rate of accidents by commercial vehicles has increased by 4.9 per cent while that of private vehicles decreased by 1.42 per cent.

“We have observed that the per cent increase, particularly with motorcycles and the impact of motorcycles, is getting worrying by the day.”   

Ghana, from January to October 2019, recorded 589 deaths through motorcycle accidents, and 712 deaths this year.

However, private vehicles accounted for 411 accidents and commercial vehicles, 690, as of the end of September this year.

“If you compare private and commercial vehicles, motorcycles seem to be dwarfed but they killed more.”

Nevertheless, there has been a significant decrease in the total number of deaths caused by accidents.

In 2019 the total number of deaths by road accidents was 2,284 while this year recorded 1,824 deaths.

Superintendent Obeng stated that the reductions can be attributed to the restriction of movement due to the lockdown instituted by government as part of measures to curb the outbreak of Covid-19.

However, the Director of Education, Research and Training at MTTD stated that appropriate measures should be implemented to curb the spike of motorcycle accidents in the country since they have become a part of our transportation system.