The Tamale Metropolis recorded 56 deaths in 168 road accidents last year. For the month of January this year alone, 11 deaths were registered from 11 accidents, bringing the total number of deaths to 67. A total of GH¢6,876.00 fines had also been imposed on offending drivers as revenue for the state. Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Godwin Cashman Korbla Blewushie, Northern Regional Commander of the Motor Transport and Traffic Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service, disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Tamale on Tuesday. He blamed the rising incidence of accidents on high illiteracy among the drivers, most of whom he said could neither read nor write and therefore were unable to interpret road signs. He added that the negative practice of using cargo trucks as passenger vehicles was also to blame for most of the accidents in the area. DSP Blewushie noted that a lot of offending drivers had been arrested, with 31 of them sent to court last year, while first offenders were cautioned and made to sign a bond to be of good conduct on the road. Throwing light on the challenges of the MTTU in the Region, he noted that the MTTU was poorly resourced to carry out educational and sensitization programmes across the Region, making the Unit to limit its operations in the Tamale Metropolis. He said the Tamale MTTU lacked a vehicle and reflector vests, while the only alco-meter available was not being used because its battery had ran out and could not be got in the region except in Accra. DSP Blewushie also bemoaned interferences from traditional and opinion leaders, as well as influential local politicians whom, he said, often came to intervene whenever motorists were arrested thus making it difficult for the police to ensure sanity. “The police officers who arrest motorists are not even spared in Tamale as some of them have on countless occasions been attacked and assaulted by residents… but we are not perturbed by that … We will continue to do our legitimate duty”, he said. He also cited instances where relatives of accident victims often prevented the police from taking the bodies of the deceased to the mortuary for autopsy as another challenge for the police in the Metropolis. The MTTU commander gave the assurance that the police will continue to educate, arrest and prosecute offenders as a strategy to reducing road accidents in the Tamale Metropolis and appealed to the authorities to assist them with logistics to enable them to work effectively. He said the police had been carrying out periodic education on road safety at the mosques, lorry stations and also on the roads. On the alleged extortion of money from motorists, DSP Blewushie said it was rather the giver that must be blamed for committing offences, adding that because most motorists knew they were wrong, they quickly offered money to the police to avoid being prosecuted. He, however, conceded that some policemen acted unprofessionally, saying “There is Mensah in every house”. Source: GNA