The National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) is investigating a possible link between a broken-down tricycle, popularly known as an ‘aboboyaa’, and the chain of collisions that killed 12 people at Ofankor Barrier on the Accra-Nsawam Highway.

Preliminary information gathered at the scene indicates that the tricycle had reportedly broken down on the road, causing a tipper truck loaded with sand to stop behind it.

Two Sprinter buses carrying passengers subsequently stopped behind the truck, creating a queue of vehicles on the stretch.

The crash occurred at about 4 a.m. between the Ofankor Barrier and the John Teye enclave and involved seven vehicles — two tipper trucks, two Sprinter buses, two saloon cars and the tricycle. Twenty-two other people were injured and are currently receiving treatment at various hospitals.

Felix Owusu, Senior Planning Manager at the NRSA, said another tipper truck allegedly approached the stationary vehicles at high speed and crashed into the line.

He suggested that the proximity of the incident to a curve may have limited the driver’s ability to respond in time.

“From the little we have gathered, there was a stationary tricycle, or what most people call an ‘aboboyaa’. There was a tricycle which had broken down,” he said.

Mr Owusu said the initial impact triggered a series of subsequent collisions involving the other vehicles, leading to the heavy casualties.

He, however, cautioned against treating the preliminary account as the confirmed cause of the crash, since much of the information was obtained from bystanders.

Speaking on Citi FM on Thursday, August 13, he said the NRSA was awaiting the full police report and further accounts from surviving drivers and passengers to determine exactly how the accident unfolded.

“As I said from the beginning, all that we are hearing are accounts given by bystanders, and so we don’t want to rely solely on that,” he said.

“We are waiting for the police for a full report that will tell us what exactly happened and how each of the subsequent accidents or crashes occurred.”