Chief Executive Officer of the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) has failed to explain the reason behind missing out on the Commission's mid-year target with over 800 people dead through road accidents so far across the country.

May Obiri Yeboah admitted that most of the fatalities came as a result of vehicles broken down on the roads.

She also spoke about the refusal by most motor riders to wear crash helmets which resulted in needless deaths and head injuries in the country.

She was speaking Tuesday at the opening of the 3-day mid-year performance conference of the Commission in the Upper West Region.

The mid-year review conference of the Commission is being held on the theme 'Achieving the 50% reduction in fatalities and serious injuries: an assessment of progress as at 2016'.

Upper West Regional Minister, Amin Amidu Sulemani expressed worry over the issue during the mid-year review conference of the Commission.

In a related development, a study conducted by NRSC has revealed that 42% of riders and 17% of all pillion riders wore crash helmets.

It was also observed that 37.3% of all riders and 13.7% of all pillion riders wear their crash helmets while men were considered more responsive to the wearing of helmets.

Due to the low usage of crash helmets by motorists, several lives are lost and others also sustain head injuries, which frequently require specialized medical care or long-term rehabilitation, in cases of an accident.

The Executive Director of the NSRC called on motorcycle riders to abandon excuses offered for non-use of crash helmets and develop a positive attitude to their use in order to reduce the rising incidence of motorcycle related deaths in the country.

The Commission over the years has been battling to reduce the number of road accidents in the Upper West Region. A number of strategies have been put in place to help reverse the trend.

However, looking at the sea of mangled motorbikes parked inside the Upper West Regional police headquarters; it does not only paint a gloomy picture but also showed that they need to work extra hard if they are to succeed, reports Joy News correspondent, Rafiq Salam.

Statistics for the past five months of motorbike and vehicle fatalities in the region have risen and reached alarming proportions.