Upper East Region hit by 23 fatalities in third quarter

Correspondence from Upper East Region:

The Upper East Region has recorded 59 road crushes in the third quarter of 2021, out of which 23 were fatal cases.

The hardest-hit points are the Abole junction at Estates in Bolgatanga and the Notre Dame Senior High School junction at Navrongo.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Ghanaweb's Upper East Regional

Read full articlecorrespondent, Sarah Dubure, the Assistant Planning Manager of the Ghana National Road Safety Commission, Seth Wiredu, noted that victims were largely males.

He explained that they conducted a survey as an institution to find out why, and it was found that the women were more cautious anytime they hit the road. According to them, they had families back home to cater for.

"We as an office has realized that the women are being more careful compared to the men. We asked some few women around and we realized that they have the perception of trying to be careful because of their families back home," he stated.

He also mentioned head-on collisions and condos(tricycles) hitting pedestrians on the walkways as the major types of accidents bedeviling the Region.

He noted with worry that most tricycle operators were into the habit of using the pedestrian walkway, instead of the main road.

"Most of the riders in town compete with pedestrians for space on the pedestrian walkway. Imagine a motorcycle rider trying to use the pedestrian walkway. So are you trying to tell the pedestrian to use the main road? It is never done," he condemned.

Mr. Owiredu mentioned Abole junction at Estates in Bolgatanga, and the junction at Notre Dame Senior High school in Navrongo as the hardest hit points in the Region.

Touching on the accidents at Abole junction, he explained that it was a place where they had different vehicles coming from various angles to join the main road.

He noted that most of the people joining the main road did not show the right indication, adding they did not look at the various ends before joining the road, which led to a lot of crashes at that particular stretch.

"This is actually a place where we have different vehicles coming from various angles to join the main road and surprisingly, most of the people joining the main road are not showing the proper indication," he observed.

"And again, most people do not look at the various ends before joining the main road, so this leads to a whole lot of crushes," Mr. Owiredu added.

Regarding the accidents at Notre Dame Senior High School, Mr. Wiredu attributed them to the lack of speed control indicators on the road.

He further affirmed that road safety was a shared responsibility, and called on the people of the Upper East Region to be advocates of road safety so that together, they would make the roads safer.