NRSA warns of rising accidents as fatalities surge by 14%

The National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) has expressed concerns about the increase in road accident deaths as elections approach.

Despite a decrease in the overall number of road crashes, deaths have surged by 151 in the first half of 2024, marking a nearly 14 percent increase.

This equates to an average of seven fatalities per day in Ghana.

The acting Director at the NSRA Ing David Adonteng, has raised concerns over law enforcement and low police visibility on roads. 

“At the turn of 2024, there is an up surge in some of the areas. Ashanti in particular. Ashanti has over taken Greater Accra and Eastern as the Region with most fatalities. In every election year, the trend over there is that, there is often the increase as compared to the preceding year. We are unable to say that they are politically related crashes. In Ashanti in particular, I think there it has to do with enforcement. The general visibility issues is not related to just Ashanti region.”

The Ashanti region is presently leading with the most accident fatalities.

Ing David Adonteng attributed the high number of fatalities in Ashanti to its extensive network of trunk roads.

The NRSA has called for an urgent audit of street lighting nationwide, following alarming statistics that reveal 1,237 lives were lost to road crashes between January and June 2024, largely due to poor road illumination.

However, the government has promised to advance Phase 3 of its streetlight project.