Three university students killed in car accidents in three weeks
Three university students have perished in separate car accidents in less than three weeks.
The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) lost two students while the University of Cape Coast (UCC) recorded one death.
The latest is a first-year student of the UCC who died after a speeding vehicle knocked her down at Ayensudo in Cape Coast.
The incident happened near the UCC Satellite Campus of the Nduom School of Business and Technology.
The deceased, 19-year-old Priscilla Owusu Achia, was in the company of friends when a Sprinter bus that was overtaking another car knocked her.
It occurred on Saturday, April 10, 2021, and she was rushed to the hospital.
Priscilla gave up the ghost on Tuesday, April 13, at about 11:30 am while receiving treatment at the hospital.
A statement issued by the Public Affairs Directorate of UCC said the family of the deceased had been informed of the incident.
It added that the Saltpond Police had commenced investigations into the matter.
Two weeks before, two students of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) also perished in an accident on campus.
The students died after their private car rammed into a tree in an attempt to negotiate a curve at about 3 am on March 27.
Three other students who were on board the same vehicle sustained serious injuries.
While two were rushed to the KNUST Hospital, the third had to be transferred to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital due to the critical nature of the injury.
2021 accident mortalities exceed COVID-19 deaths
A total of 771 persons have died through road accidents for the first quarter of 2021.
This surpassed the COVID-19 related deaths of 752 at the end of the same period.
The figure, according to the Ghana Police Service, is a significant increase in the 393 cases recorded in the same period 2020.
Out of the 771 deaths recorded, the Ashanti region recorded the highest, with 171 deaths with 1,064 injured, followed by the Greater Accra region, 146 deaths, and 732 injuries.
Central, Savannah, Bono, and Upper East regions respectively follow in terms of the number of casualties while the North East Region recorded only 3 deaths.
2020 accidents
The country recorded the highest road traffic fatalities in the last 30 years due to increasing motorcycle accidents in 2020.
Motorcycle accidents contributed approximately 40% to the total deaths in the last year.
Provisional data for 2020 showed that 2,589 lives were lost to road crash across the country despite movement restrictions due to COVID-19.
This figure represents a 13% rise compared to the 2,284 registered in 2019.
It was also consistent with high fatalities associated with election years as citizens hit the polls in December 2020.
Road fatalities in 2020 is the highest in the last three decades.