The National Road Safety Authority in the Ashanti region is concerned motorbikes and tricycles are posing high risk of road crashes in the region.
The Authority is the more worried; these figures could escalate when mass political campaigns kick-off.
The NRSA has specifically flagged areas including Tepa, Konongo, Offinso, Obuasi, Mampong and Ejura where a majority of the residents use bikes.
“They don’t wear their crash helmets and most of them don’t have the proper training and licenses to ride the bikes,”Ashanti regional manager of the National Road Safety Authority Simbeat Wiredu told Ultimate News.
She disclosed that her outfit is adopting a double pronged approach to get riders properly licensed and trained in safety measures; to stem the tide.
“We have programs to train them in the skill of riding and in the safety of their operations and riders are urged to ensure that they have gone through the training and acquired the requisite licenses to ride the motorcycles,” she cautioned.
The authority further points out that even though out and out mass movements of supporters for political campaigns has not started because of the COVID 19 hold on mass gatherings; the NRSA in the Ashanti Region, is rolling out a series of outreaches to contain excesses found on the roads during the heated political campaign season.
Simbiat Wiredu emphasized that the NRSA will not relax in its activities to ensure that fatalities are kept at its lowest before during and after the December elections.
“If you want to vote for whoever, you believe in you have to make sure you are safe on the roads being a rider, pedestrian, driver or a passenger because if you fall, the campaign will still go on and your party loses one vote,”Simbeat advised.
Between January and July last year some 200 persons lost their lives through road accidents in the Ashanti region.
This number has reduced marginally to a hundred and eighty two within the same period this year.
The region has also recorded a reduction in the number of persons knocked down by moving vehicles and motor bikes with the figure standing at 328 compared to 333 last year.
Statistics from the NRSA shows that Ghana loses about 1.7 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product which is over $230 million, through road crashes every year, besides the loss of lives.
This places Ghana in an improbable position to meet its UNSDG 3.6 target of reducing road accidents by half using the 2011 accident figures as a base.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/ Ivan Heathcote – Fumador