Five hundred and eighty one road crashes have been reported in the Ashanti Region in the first quarter of the year.

To reduce the spate of road fatalities, personnel of the police motor traffic and transport department are receiving training in enforcing regulation on speed limits.

The training is a collaboration between the police and the Kumasi metropolitan assembly. Road crashes have been a growing concern in Ghana.

With the increasing fatalities on the roads, senior and junior staff of the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) have been engaged to be equipped in enforcing speed limits.

The Ashanti regional MTTD Commander, Superintendent Emmanuel Adu Boahen, says the region is recording so many crashes in the city which is worrying.

"...the basic objective is to reduce the crashes and when that is done, automatically the death will reduce."

After the training, the officers hit the streets to put their acquired skills into practice.

They are expected to be equipped with a device to enable them monitor speed limit of drivers and ultimately tackle the issue of over-speeding.

"...the machine that we are going to be provided is designed in such a way that it can capture multiple vehicles and it has an in-built chip, and we can fit it in a computer and we can show you the speed limit at which you were travelling or driving. we can also give you the still pictures. It is our prayer that just after the training, the machine also comes and we begin with the project."

Public relations officer of KMA, Afia Konadu Aboagye, says the training will help reduce excessive speeding in the region.

"we acknowledges that road safety is a shared responsibility that is why the city authorities put together the refresher course , and build the capacity of the police MTTD to reduce the road accidents in the region".

The training which was initially for the police in the Greater Kumasi but has now been expanded to benefit personnel from across the region.

The four-day training program was supported by the bloomberg initiative for global roadsafety and MTTD to equip them on speed enforcement, data-led enforcement and practical hands-on-deck.