- Ghana road accident fatalities up 14% in 2024.
- Ashanti region leads in fatalities due to poor enforcement.
- NRSA calls for streetlight audit to reduce crashes.
- Gov't to install 250,000 streetlights to improve safety.
The National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) has expressed concern over the rising number of road accident fatalities in Ghana, particularly with the approach of elections. Despite a decrease in the overall number of road crashes, fatalities have surged by 151 in the first half of 2024, marking a nearly 14% increase.
This equates to an average of seven fatalities per day in Ghana, a trend that is causing alarm among road safety officials. Kwame Koduah Atuahene, Head of Regulation, Inspection, and Compliance at the NRSA, has raised concerns over law enforcement and low police visibility on roads.
Atuahene noted that the Ashanti region has overtaken Greater Accra and Eastern as the region with the most fatalities, with a significant increase in accidents in 2024. He attributed the rise in fatalities in Ashanti to enforcement issues and low police visibility, rather than political factors.
Dr. William Ackaah, Head of the Building and Road Research Institute at the CSIR, attributed the high number of fatalities in Ashanti to its extensive network of trunk roads. The NRSA has called for an urgent audit of street lighting nationwide, following alarming statistics that reveal 1,237 lives were lost to road crashes between January and June 2024.
Poor road illumination was cited as a major contributor to the high number of fatalities, prompting the government to promise to advance Phase 3 of its streetlight project. Regional Minister Titus Glover announced plans to install 250,000 streetlights, building on previous phases which saw 10,000 lights installed in 2022 and 20,000 in 2023.
