The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), in collaboration with Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative of Global Road Safety (BIGRS) and Vital Strategies, has launched the Kumasi Road Safety Report 2022.
It is expected to help make road safe by reducing pedestrian road accidents, especially in the city.
Mr. Samuel Pyne, Mayor of Kumasi, explained that the report, which is an update of two previous ones, provides information on crashes, deaths and injuries to enable stakeholders track trends and use the findings on at-risk road user groups, risk periods and high-risk crash locations to guide the implementation of interventions for improved outcomes.
He expressed the hope that the efforts of the city and its partners would reduce deaths and injuries from road accidents and improve the safety of all road users.
He said efforts at the city level should complement those by the National Road Safety Authority, and encourage stakeholders at the local and national levels to use the data to inform their actions to improve road user’ safety.
The KMA boss commended all local and external partners for their efforts to improve safety on the city’s roads.
The Mayor expressed his profound gratitude to Bloomberg Philanthropies, Vital Strategies and other partners for their continued support to Kumasi, and assured them that the city authority was committed to realising the goals of the partnership.
Dr. Raphael Awuah, Regional Technical Advisor, Africa Road Injury Surveillance, Vital Strategies, has stated that males were the most vulnerable when it came to pedestrian accidents.
He disclosed, referring to available statistics, that about 80% of pedestrian deaths were males, hence, the need to prioritise their safety on our roads.
He indicated that most of the pedestrian road accidents normally occurred at the weekends, especially from 8:00pm to 1:00pm, because of zero enforcement rules and regulations on the roads during weekends, especially on Sundays.
Dr. Awuah commended the Ghana Police Service for their commitment and the great work they were doing, and added that the police could not record all road crush deaths and suggested the Service could rely on hospital data as the most reliable data.
According to him, the road accidents in Kumasi were two thirds more than what the police reports on deaths occurred in road accident nationwide was three times more.
Mr. Kingsley Wiredu, Road Injury Surveillance Coordinator (KMA, BIGRS), also revealed that, findings showed that from 2021 to 2022, the number of reported road traffic accidents in Kumasi rose by 24%, from 2,255 to 1,550, while road traffic deaths dropped from 160 to 134, representing a 16% decrease.
He noted that, deaths per 100,000 population also declined from 4.6 in 2021 to 3.4 in 2022, adding that, pedestrians, motorcyclists and Cyclists accounted for 84% of the recorded fatalities in 2022, while Males accounted for 74% of deaths and 67% of serious injuries in 2022.
According to him, the highest proportion of deaths was recorded among those aged 20 to 29 years.
Based on three year geolocation data, high-risk fatal crash locations were concentrated along high-capacity roads including Anloga Junction (N6) Boadi junction (N6), Asuoyeboah traffic intersection, Sofoline station and Amakom traffic intersection.
He reiterated that, studies of road injury risk factors on selected corridors found that 30% of drivers in Kumasi were observed speeding.
Ing. Samuel Boamah Danquah, Senior Manager for Road Safety programme in Ghana, Vital Strategies, stated that Road infrastructure assessments were conducted at high-risk crash locations close to school zones as identified from the analyses of police data.
The objective of the assessments, he said, was to provide recommendations to reduce crashes at these identified locations which included Abrepo Road (Bohyen to County Hospital stretch) and Yaa Asantewaah Road.
