The National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) has urged motorists and commuters to be extra cautious on the roads as the festive season approaches.

Speaking on JoyNews’ AM SHOW on Tuesday, the Acting Director General of the Authority,  David Osafo Adonteng noted that records reveal that there’s been 18 percent reduction in deaths, six percent reduction in crashes and three percent reduction in injuries, compared to the same period last year.

“We have experienced some horrific crashes in the past 11 months to the end of November. What is motivating us however is that if you compare the situation with the same period last year, we have made some significant gains,” he said.

According to Dr. Osafo Adonteng, despite the gains made in reducing accidents on the road this year, extra precaution is needed to sustain the gains made.

This, he said is because over 1900 deaths have been recorded in the past 10 months, adding that the festive season makes it highly possible to record more deaths.

“People will want to travel more, we will see more vehicles on our roads, there will be a lot of activities, merry-making, church-going, parties and so on. Unfortunately, some of these come about because people are not alert and undisciplined in terms of using alcohol to excite themselves. People forget themselves when they drink and they will go and sit behind the steering wheel. Others will want to use the alcohol to activate their capability to do more work in terms of driving than before,” he explained.