HomeNewsNewsGovernmentROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENT CLAIMS 18,272 LIVES IN SEVEN MONTHS – NRSA

ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENT CLAIMS 18,272 LIVES IN SEVEN MONTHS – NRSA

ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENT CLAIMS 18,272 LIVES IN SEVEN MONTHS – NRSA
 
A total of 18, 272 various forms of Road Traffic Accidents (RTAs) which claimed 1,272 lives occurred in the first seven months of 2023.
About 9,000 victims were injured with over 8,000 others involved in various forms of road crunches.
Mr David Osafo Adonteng, the Acting Director-General of the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) who disclosed this, said even though there was significant reduction in the numbers as compared to last year same period, there was the need to reduce the figures to the barest minimum.
He was speaking at a sensitization forum on a new technology, Traffitech-GH, an initiative by the Ghana Police Service (GPS) to reduce the menace of RTAs.
Mr Adonteng said road accidents had over the years claimed the lives of bread winners and denied dependents their sources of livelihoods, while the country also lost qualified skilled labour.
“It is not a good story to tell,” he said.
The Acting Director-General added that the unfortunate accidents compelled the GPS to explore new ways to protect life and property by the introduction of the Traffitech-GH to enforce road traffic regulations.
Chief Superintendent Alexander Kweku Obeng of the GPS who took participants through the Traffitech-GH, said the technology involved the use of cameras and sensors to automatically take pictures or videos of vehicles that flouted road traffic laws and regulations.
He mentioned over speeding, red light crossing, expired road worthy certificate, wrongful overtaking, non-use of seatbelt, use of mobile phones while driving and expired drivers license, among others as some of the traffic offences.
He explained that the technology would automatically transmit traffic offences including the time and venue of the offence to an officer for validation and issuance of notification by Short Messaging Service (SMS) to the vehicle owner for payment.
Chief Superintendent Obeng said the notification would include the vehicle number, offence description and cost to be paid within 14 days which in default, would attract one percent penalty everyday after the deadline.
He advised vehicle owners to obey all road traffic regulations and those who sold their cars should ensure they did transfer of ownership to avoid the penalty of the new technology.