The deputy organizer of the National Democratic Congress for the Bole- Bamboi constituency of the Savannah region, Mr Gonsob Sansah Samuel, has urged authorities manning the Sawla- Wa highway to immediately take steps to repair the many pot holes that have developed on the road as it is one of the causative factors of accidents in the area.
According to the him, the terrible nature of the pothole ridden road have made it progressively more difficult to drive on the road.
Mr Gonsob comments comes on the heels of a startling revelation of
provisional data compiled by the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service (GPS) has revealed that the number of commuters killed in road traffic crashes for the first nine months of the year rose by 16.37% compared to same period last year.
It increased from 1,827 between January and September 2020 to 2,126 in the first nine months of this year.
The data shows that 1,751 males made up of 193 below the ages of 18 and 1,558 who are 18 years and above were killed.
Similarly, 375 females comprising 100 who are 18 years and below as well as 275 aged 18 years and above also died from crashes.
Out of the 2,126 killed in the first nine months of this year, 607 commuters representing 28.5% of all fatalities were as a result of pedestrian knockdowns.
In addition, 1,551 pedestrians were injured from knockdowns.
According to the data, 912 commuters representing 42.8% of all fatalities were killed by motorcycles.
Similarly, out of the 11,659 persons injured, motorcycles also injured 3,553, which represent 30.4% of all commuters injured during the nine months.
The police administration who disclosed the statistics said if stringent measures were not taken to abate the situation, it was expected that the worst would happen and that might affect efforts at reducing the carnage on the roads.
According to the data, the situation had not shown any chronological reduction over the years and it important that pragmatic efforts and measures needed to be put in place to stem the tide.
In a write up circulated on WhatsApp, Mr Gonsob stated that the road has become a hidden death trap claiming lives on daily basis.
He also attributed the rampant armed robbery cases on that stretch as being fueled by these potholes since robbers take advantages of areas where vehicles slow down to do their attacks.
Mr Gonsob called for a concerted effort among stakeholders to implement effective measure to curb the high incidence of road accidents on the road.
According to him the new DCEs should as a matter urgency, include fixing of potholes within their catchment districts in their action plans and that there should be a bye-law to be enforced by special agency like MTTU police or various tollbooths for maintenance of roads in the District.
“Communities living close to existing potholes like those between Sawla and Bodi, Kakiase and Deniyir, Mankuma and Gbogdaa, Kpakuduri and Dabuoyiri, Dabuoyiri and Doli should be made to use Communal labours to fix their areas. This can be enforced by chiefs, assemblymen and the unit committee members”, he stated.
Source: yagbonradioonline
