A total of 602 people died through motor accidents countrywide during the first quarter of the year as against 339 recorded during the same period last year. The fatalities were recorded in 3,051 accident cases involving 4, 199 vehicles during the period while 2, 845 cases involving 4, 359 vehicles were registered in the period last year. On regional basis, the Central Region recorded the highest number of deaths (153) followed by Brong-Ahafo with 82 and Ashanti third with 75. During the period, 2 051 injuries were recorded as against 1, 862 during the same period in the previous year. ACP Daniel J. Avorga, National Commander of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service, who made these known in an interview with the Times described the situation as unprecedented. He said the records came as a surprise considering the intensified road safety campaigns embarked on over the past years. "I least expected such a high rate of accidents on the roads for this year after the massive road safety activities by the MTTU and other key stakeholders," he stated. ACP Avorga recounted series of proactive road safety measures that were put in place between 2004 and 2008 to check the high trend of accidents on the roads. He attributed the causes of accidents to driver errors and other factors such as poor maintenance habit on the part of drivers, fake spare-parts and poor auto-mechanic service delivery. He said that it required the Support of all, particularly the major actors in the transport sector, to effectively arrest the situation. The commander asked heads of various drivers' unions to encourage their members to strictly adhere to traffic regulations in order to maintain sanity in the sector. He also called on the unions to ensure that their members drove within the capacities of their licenses, since the unit could not solve the problem singlebanded1y and advised them to be bold to expel incompetent drivers. ACP Avorga stated that although the first quarter had not been impressive with regards to the high fatalities recorded, his outfit would intensify its road safety campaigns to address the situation. Source: Times