1,300 killed in road crashes this year

At least 1,300 people died in 7,687 reported road accidents between January and June this year, statistics from the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) have revealed.

Another 7,997 people sustained varying degrees of injuries in the reported crashes, which involved 13,248 vehicles.

The NRSA statistics, made available to the Daily Graphic, further show that within the same period, 1,356 pedestrians were knocked down.

The mid-year statistics indicate an improvement in the road safety situation, compared with the same period last year, when 1,454 people were killed in 8,188 reported crashes.

Similarly, the number of people who sustained injuries in road crashes in the first half of this year was a 2.3 per cent drop from the 8,188 recorded in 2021.

Pedestrian knock downs also reduced by 7.8 per cent from the 1,470 recorded over the same period last year.

Vehicle category

The data, however, show that there is a reduction in the number of vehicles involved in crashes from 13,973 last year to 13,248 in the same period this year.

The accidents involved 4,619 commercial vehicles, 5,862 private vehicles and 2,767 motorcycles, an improvement over last year when 4,948 commercial vehicles, 5,868 private vehicles and 3,157 motorcycles were involved in the crashes from January to June.

Regional breakdown

The Greater Accra Region recorded 3,269 crashes during the first half of the year, with 252 deaths, which is the worst regional statistics across the country.

Ashanti Region followed with 1,791 crashes, with 247 deaths, while the Eastern Region had 826 crashes, with 238 fatalities.

The Central Region recorded 529 crashes and 104 deaths; Western, 354 crashes and 59 deaths; Volta, 193 crashes and 55 deaths; Western, 119 crashes and 54 deaths, while Bono East had 102 crashes and 51 deaths.

There were 99 crashes and 48 deaths in the Ahafo Region; 94 crashes and 46 deaths in Northern; 76 crashes and 38 deaths in Upper East ; 72 crashes and 28 deaths in Bono, and 53 crashes and 22 deaths in Savannah.

The Upper West, North East and Oti regions completed the table with 51 crashes and 20 deaths, 35 crashes and 20 deaths and 26 crashes and 18 deaths, respectively.

More insights

The statistics also revealed that in the first six months of 2022, the Greater Accra, Western, Volta, Bono, Upper East and Bono East regions recorded reduction in crashes, injuries and deaths.

Additionally, three regions – Greater Accra, Ashanti and Eastern – collectively known as the “big three” in road crashes analysis — recorded 5,883 crashes, 5,624 injuries and 737 deaths from January to June 2022.

That represented 76.53 per cent of the crashes, 70.33 per cent of injuries sustained and 57.69 per cent of deaths recorded over the period.

There was a slight decline in the crashes, injuries and deaths for the big three regions, compared to the same period in 2021.

This was evident in the 3.59 per cent, 1.64 per cent and 15.68 per cent reduction in crashes, injuries and deaths, respectively.

The remaining 13 regions collectively had 1,803 crashes, 2,373 injuries and 563 deaths in the first six months of this year.

They also saw a decrease in crashes by 13.53 per cent, injuries by 10.62 per cent and deaths by 2.93 per cent, compared to the same period of 2021.

Other dynamics

Regarding the sex distribution of the fatalities, 1,034 males perished in road crashes, far outstripping the female figure of 266.

The adult age group of above 18 years was the most represented in the fatality statistics, constituting 87 per cent of deaths, compared to 13 per cent for children.

Putting the riskiest age-group and sex together, the picture implies that more adult males died in road crashes, compared to their female counterparts, and appeared to point to a greater chance of fatalities involving males than females.