Statistics from the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) indicate that the Savannah Region recorded a total of 29 deaths from January to October, this year, out of 60 road crashes involving 92 vehicles. The data attributed half of the fatalities to crashes involving motorcycles while commercial and private vehicles accounted for the other half. 'This year's figures show a significant improvement compared to last year in fatalities and the number of crashes, and a marginal decline in injured persons. Data from January-September of 2022 and that of 2023 revealed a 30 per cent decline in persons killed; a 29 per cent decline in several crashes and a five per cent decrease in persons injured.' Mr Safianu Abdul-Rahaman, Savannah Regional Head, NRSA, announced this while addressing drivers on the Damongo-Sawla Highway as part of the Authority's routine exercises to educate motorists and members of the public on road safety and more. He said nine pedestrians were knocked down, out of which four lost their liv es, while a total of 215 also sustained various degrees of injuries during the same period. He attributed the performance to the efforts of all stakeholders and urged them not to lose their guard, especially in this festive season so that the year would pass by with no further loss of lives or injuries due to crashes. The NRSA in the region undertook the exercise to ensure that the incidences of road crashes involving disabled vehicles on the corridors of the region were minimised or eliminated. Mr Abdul-Rahaman educated drivers to place the warning signs 45 meters before the hazard when in urban centres, where speed limits are lower, but on highways outside human settlements, the warning signs should be 145m before and after the hazard to be effective and to prevent motorists from running over them. Most of the gory accidents that have claimed lives at a go in the region mostly involved abandoned vehicles in the middle of the roads due to mechanical and other faults. Most of them were either without the appropriate warning signs to alert motorists or their warning signs were placed too close to the disabled vehicles making their intended effect minimal or useless. As part of the exercise, vehicles were inspected for retro-reflective tapes as they served as a secondary layer of ensuring visibility of vehicles, especially at night, and vehicles or drivers, who did not have warning triangles, were made to buy them. Mr Abdul-Rahaman said Regulation 80 of Legislative Instrument (LI 2180) of Road Safety Regulation 2012 enjoined all passenger and goods-carrying vehicles that had a gross weight of 3.5 tonnes and above to fit retroreflectors on them. He advised drivers to make regular stops to keep alert, avoid speeding and overtake when it was absolutely safe to do so. He said 'NRSA is often criticised for being reactive and comes to the fore only when the harm has been done. This proactive move by the Savannah Regional Team is commendable and worth emulating by others while the authorities take steps to figure a way to tow these broken-down vehicles off the roads.' Source: Ghana News Agency
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