January–March: More males, adults die through road crashes in Central Region

A total of 28 males in the Central Region, representing 82 per cent, and six females, representing 18 per cent, were killed by road crashes from January to March 2024.

The figure reveals an approximate ratio of 1:5, meaning that one female to five males is killed in every road crash, confirming a similar trend in recent past of higher road fatalities of males than females.

Similarly, two people, six per cent of people killed in road crashes, were below 18 years, whilst 32, representing 94 per cent, were adults above 18 years.

That indicates that for every 16 adults above 18 years killed, a child below 18 years also dies, revealing a relatively high road traffic death ratio of 16:1 for adults than for children.

This is partly due to the high risk of exposure of adults and males to traffic incidences as compared to children, Mrs Linda Affotey-Annang, the Central Regional Head of the National Road Safety Authority, told the Ghana News Agency in Cape Coast on Friday.

A total of 245 road traffic crashes, resulting in 410 injuries and 34 deaths, were reported as against 231 crashes, 33 injuries and 42 deaths recorded over the same period last year.

The figures represent a 6.1 per cent increase in road crashes, a 78.8 per cent increase in injuries and a 19.0 per cent reduction in deaths.

The crashes involved 387 vehicles of all categories; private, commercial, motorbikes, or cycles and 476 casualties, 66 fatalities or deaths and 410 injuries.

Of the reported cases, vehicles involved, people injured and pedestrian knockdowns, respectively increased by 6.06, 1.84, 8.75 and 53.49 per cent, but people killed decreased by 19.05 per cent when compared to the same period of 2024.

On monthly distributions of crashes, injuries and deaths, Mrs Affotey-Annang said the month of March recorded the highest number of crashes 101 whilst February recorded the lowest number 52.

For injuries, January recorded the highest of 161 whilst March had the least; 95.

The rate of decrease for deaths in 2024 was approximately 3.5 per month compared to the 1.5 decrease per month for 2023.

Also, a total of 66 pedestrians were knocked down, representing an increase of 53.49 per cent as against 43 knockdowns in 2023.

To understand the enormousness of the crashes, she explained that road traffic accidents had been categorized under fatal, serious or minor depending on the severity.

“Fatal crashes are crashes which have resulted in the death of at least one person or more within 30 days of the crash, serious crashes are crashes, which have resulted in a serious injury of at least one person, leading to hospitalisation for at least 24 hours.

“Minor crashes are those resulting in a minor injury of at least one person, hospitalised for less than 24 hours or no injuries at all,” she said.

She repeated the Authority’s resolve to induce positive behavioural change among road users for them to observe and advocate compliance with road traffic regulations.

Also, road users must support the authority and other stakeholders and report traffic infractions as a collective responsibility.