The National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), has expressed concern over the recent accidents, which claimed the lives of about 17 persons over the weekend.

The accidents also involved some nine students of the University of Education, Winneba, who lost their lives in the crashes.

In a statement by the Authority’s Corporate Affairs Unit on Monday, the NRSA said it is appalled by the recent carnage which resulted in the injury of many other passengers on board the various vehicles.

According to the NRSA, even though the recent events are unfortunate, there have been a steady decline in the occurrence of fatalities in the country.

“The Authority has noted that, despite the frequent occurrence of the road traffic crashes, its resultant injuries and death have declined by 3.7% and 9.2% respectively in the month of January and February, 2022 as compared to the same period in 2021. However, the last few days have seen a rise in crashes which may not necessarily mean a rise in crashes or crises situation.

The National Road Safety Authority expresses its condolences to the families of the deceased persons and wishes the injured a speedy recovery. Consistent with policy, the Authority has commissioned investigation into the crashes.

In the interim, the Authority is scaling up the ‘Stay Alive’ campaign for 2022 and the related media and outreach programmes. Further, Road Safety Inspectors have been deployed at major transport terminals to ensure compliance to road safety directives on two drivers per long distance route and the use of vehicle log books, among others”, portions of the statement read.

According to the Authority, based on its preliminary findings, excessive speeding, wrongful overrating, inattentiveness, disabled vehicles and fatigue are the critical contributory factors to the crashes recorded.

In its release on Monday, the NRSA also gave the statistical summary of the weekend’s accidents.

In all, four separate accidents were recorded in the Oti, Greater Accra and Eastern Regions respectively; involving a total of eight vehicles.

This led to the death of 17 persons, with several others severely injured.