Road crashes claimed 2,284 lives in 2019, according to provisional data compiled by the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service.
This marked a significant increase from 2018 where 2,020 died on Ghana’s roads.
This would be the highest fatality figure in the last decade if validated by the National Road Safety Commission.
The closest was in 2012 where 2,240 died in road crashes.
Ghana’s best year for road crashes in the last decade was 2015 where 1,802 people died.
The Greater Accra Region had the most road fatalities with 449 followed by the Ashanti Region with 448 deaths and the Eastern Region with 349 deaths.
The Upper West Region featured the least deaths with 49 recorded cases.
The provisional data did not streamline data to cover the newly created regions.
Most of the fatalities came in crashes involving commercial vehicles where 925 fatalities were recorded as well as 7621 injuries.
Crashes involving private cars led the deaths of 627 people and 3,302 injuries.
Pedestrian knockdowns totalled 2,983 with 740 of the incidents resulting in deaths
There were also 4,643 motor or cycle crashes which take into account bicycles, hand carts, tricycles and motorcycles. The crashes saw 723 deaths and 3474 injuries.
In all, there were 13,877 crashes recorded which involved 22789 vehicles.
The regional breakdown of crashes saw the Greater Accra with 5,483; Ashanti with 3,213; Eastern with 1,212; Western with 1,143; Central with 902, Brong Ahafo with 652, Volta with 593, Northern with 270, Upper East with 254, and Upper West with155.
The National Road Safety Commission has noted that Ghana loses over $230 million annually due to road crashes.
Within the last 28 years, over 46,000 Ghanaians have been killed in road accidents nationwide.
Poor driving skills, gross indiscipline by drivers and unworthiness of cars on Ghanaian roads are among the causes of the crashes.
