The National Road Safety Authority has revealed that nine hundred and fifty-two(952) children died in road crashes between 2019 and 2021.
Data from NRSA shows that the deceased children were both pedestrians and vehicle occupants, with 188 of the children between 0-3 years, 166 between ages four and six, 164 between seven and nine; and 434 between 10 and 17.
At a media sensitization workshop organized by LADA Institute, in partnership with the Global Road Safety Partnership, the International Federation of Red Cross, the Red Crescent Societies, and the National Road Safety Authority on the use of child restraint equipment and seatbelts for children, the project Manager of LADA Institute, Shirley Haizel-Ferguson, said a strengthened legal framework, enhanced awareness, and public education would help to reduce road traffic fatalities among children in Ghana.
Dubbed: “The Policy and Legislative Framework for Child Restraints and Seatbelt for Children in Ghana”, it formed part of the institute’s efforts to provide legislative and advocacy support for the amendment and strengthening of the legislative framework for child restraint and child seat belt usage.
She said children were dying on the roads, hence the need to begin to take all reasonable steps to protect their rights to life.
The project manager said research had shown that there was a linkage between Road Traffic Crash fatalities involving child passengers and the pattern of child restraint usage, and child seating behaviour in general.
She said there had been a growing practice where parents or guardians drove without any form of restraint to child occupants.
“More often, one can observe some parents driving with children leaping about in the back seat; babies and toddlers being held in the arms of other adults in the front or back seat; or parents holding a child in their arms while driving,” she noted.