Road crashes killed seven people in the Bono region between January and February this year, Miss Abigail Atinpoka, the Bono Regional Head of the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) has said.
They died through 25 recorded crashes which also injured 33 others, she told the media in an interview in Sunyani on Tuesday.
Comparatively, Ms. Atinpoka said the crashes saw a sharp increase, 2023 recording six deaths, 25 injuries, and 16 crashes, an increase of 56.25 percent in crashes, 32 percent in injuries, and 16.67 percent in deaths.
Describing the crashes and deaths as needless, unfortunate, and unfortunate, Ms Atinpoka said as an election year, there was a need for everybody to contribute towards bringing sanity to the road.
She reminded the public that the Easter festivity was always associated with crashes because of driver negligence and speeding, and entreated everybody to help check drivers against drunk driving, speeding, and carelessness.
Ms. Atinpoka said with an effective partnership between the authority and the public, crashes and needless fatalities could be brought under control during the festive season, and urged passengers and road users to report negligent drivers to the police or the authority.
She said the authority, in collaboration with key partners, including the Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) and the Police Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD), had begun road enforcement on speeding and removal of unprescribed lamps on vehicles.
Ms Atinpoka said the authority’s determination in the region was to ensure that crashes and the needless fatalities were brought under the barest minimum, worrying that despite intensified road safety campaigns, road crashes seemed to be increasing.
“So, the authority soon would commence the registration of fleets of buses of transport operators, and civil society organisations, as well as training of commercial drivers too,” she stated.
