The Ashanti regional MTTD commander, Supt. Emmanuel Adu Boahen says road accidents have now become public health issue which everyone must come on board to help fight against it.

According to him for the past three years now, over 10,371 people are road accident victims who go through difficulties to survive, as many others have died.

“Accident is becoming a natural phenomenon which is not the case,” he addressed.

“But since it is predictable, it could be prevented. Three things which bring accident, the road, vehicle and the driver. Research conducted revealed that rural roads record lesser or no accidents within the year and should an accident happen, death does not occur. Once we call for the road to be built, that is where drivers exhibit their driving skills through excessive speeding,” he added.

Supt. Emmanuel Adu Boahen was speaking during the celebration of World Day of Remembrance for road traffic victims in collaboration with Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, KMA, MTTD and Road Safety Commission in Kumasi on Monday, November 16, 2020.

He revealed that per research conducted, 70 per cent of road accidents are caused by motor drivers through excessive driving whiles the others have no certified license to drive.

He disclosed that despite the coronavirus inconveniences, 2020 has recorded a higher number of accidents in the Ashanti Region with a total of 2,688 as at October; 434 died and 3,110 were injured.

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He read that in 2019, a number of 2,733 accidents occurred as 455 lost their lives with 4165 getting injured. 2018 recorded 2,733 cases with 400 deaths and 3,096 injuries. He informed that the figures are not invented but a true representation of what happened turned out.

Supt. Emmanuel Adu Boahen advised that accidents could be prevented if the MTTD is allowed to do their job and perpetrators punished by courts. He addressed officials on the need to dualize roads to solve the challenge of overtaking on highways.

“The police enforcement accident prevention can be effective if favours from the top level are stopped and the court allowed to function. Due to the rise of phones, perpetrators who have affiliations with coordinating directors always seek for special treatment and at the end, they walk away from corrections.

“Secondly, our roads are small and we are pleading to the government to speed up on the dualization. That will help reduce accident. Also, disabled vehicles should not be abandoned on roads.

"The laws express that when a car develops a fault within town, the police must be informed within an hour to pull it away and if it’s a highway, drivers have two hours to inform the police and at many times.

"All these rules have been ignored and people have adopted their own means which is not helping at all.”