Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Ransford Ninson, Eastern Regional Police Commander, has announced that the Region recorded 201 deaths in 1,002 road accidents, involving 1,245 vehicles, between January and October this year.

He said that last year, 343 people died in 1,498 motor accidents, involving 1,927 vehicles.

DCOP Ninson was speaking at an awards ceremony organized by the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), to honour public transport organisations and unions that had maintained good road safety measures in the Region, in Koforidua.

He said that the accidents were caused by speeding, drunk-driving, overloading of vehicles and wrongful overtaking among other factors, and promised that the police would strictly enforce road and traffic regulations to make roads safe.

DCOP Ninson appealed to individuals and organisations to assist the police with logistics and devices such as speed radar guns and alcohol sensors, to enable them to effectively check reckless driving.

Mr Mohammed Ahmed Baba Jamal, Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, expressed worry that available statistics showed that annually about 1,800 people die through motor accidents in the country.

He said: “About 60 per cent of the dead were in the productive age group of 18-55 years and 70 per cent of them were males”.

Mr Jamal said road accidents cost the nation 1.6 per cent of Gross Domestic Product, resulting from loss of productive man hours, property damage, medical bills and administrative expenses.

Mr Jamal called on road transport groups to ensure road safety management, competence and training of drivers and road worthiness of vehicles.

He called on the Regional Police Command to step up the enforcement of road and traffic regulations as Christmas approached.

Mr Kwame Kodua Atuahene, Eastern Regional Manager, NRSC, said that road safety had become public health and development issues, which must concern policy makers if Ghana was to attain a single digit fatality target by 2015.

He said the NRSC organised the awards ceremony to motivate transport unions and organizations to give off their best.

The Ghana Private Road Transport Union, Progressive Transport Organization and Metro Mass Transport were presented with Television sets, DVD players and certificates.

Source: GNA