A Yutong bus and an Opel Vectra saloon car were last Saturday involved in an accident at Bechem, Brong Ahafo Region, with over 40 passengers sustaining various degrees of injury. The victims were rushed to the Bechem Government Hospital, Duayaw Nkwanta St. John of God Catholic Hospital and the Sunyani Regional Hospital for treatment. Though the magnitude of the injuries was very great, no death had been reported as at the time of filing this report. There were over 50 passengers on the Yutong bus and five in the saloon car. It would be recalled that the same Kumasi-Sunyani road registered an accident at Terchire, near Duayaw Nkwanta a few days ago, in which a saloon car ran into an articulated truck killing two persons instantly. The latest accident, the police said, occurred following the refusal of the driver of the Yutong bus dubbed 'Amina' bus with registration number GC 5097 Z to obey police instructions. According to the Bechem District Police Commander, Mr. Emmanuel Odonkor Baah, his men manning the Bechem-Tepa Junction police barrier signalled the Yutong driver, Kwabena Ebo, who was driving towards the barrier to slow down but he refused to stop. DSP Baah told DAILY GUIDE that the Opel Vectra with registration number GR 8677 W, driven by John Ankoma was from Kumasi heading towards Sunyani. When it got to the barrier around 11:30pm, it stopped and went through the routine checks by the police. Just as the police had finished checking the saloon car, they saw the Yutong bus coming from the Sunyani end of the road, the police signalled the Yutong driver with a flash light to stop but he failed to slow down. The driver of the saloon car sensing danger tried to move to the shoulders of the road to avoid a head-on collision with the Yutong bus, but the bus driver also moved to his direction and ran into it. The Yutong bus dragged the saloon car within some distance and also ran into the barrier and hit a billboard and somersaulted several times before it finally landed on its side. According to him, police preliminary investigations have proven that Kwabena Ebo, the driver of the Sunyani-Accra bound Yutong bus was a 'spare' driver who was asked to drive to Kumasi on behalf of the original driver, Isaac Owusu. At the time of filing this report, the Bechem Police Command was making frantic efforts to find the whereabouts of the Yutong bus driver who, according to the police, disappeared immediately alter the accident. Meanwhile, DSP Baah has called for the re-engineering of the Bcchem-Tepa Junction Barrier section of the road to avoid the rampant accidents usually recorded there. He claimed that there were so many slopes and sharp curves on that section of the road which lead to accidents. The Public Relations Officer of the Brong Ahafo Regional Police Command, Christopher Tawiah, has also called for new road safety laws that would prescribe stringent punishment to recalcitrant drivers. This, he noted, would ensure discipline on the road and thereby result in a drastic reduction in the carnage on the road. Source: Daily Guide