The latest statistics released to the Daily Graphic by the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) revealed that 2,276 persons were killed in 14,135 reported road crashes involving 23,998 vehicles.

Within the same period, 15,409 persons suffered varying degrees of injury from the crashes, while 2,559 pedestrians were also knocked down.

Compared with the 2022 figures, the current statistics showed that deaths from road crashes declined by 4.1 per cent, injuries 1.8 per cent, and crashes by 5.5 per cent.

In 2022, 2,373 people were killed in road crashes, while 15,690 were injured in 14,960 reported crashes.

The Director-General of the NRSA, David Osafo Adonteng, said the reduction in CIDs in 2023 could largely be attributed to the decline in the figures for the Greater Accra, Ashanti and Eastern regions which were the major drivers of road crashes.

He, therefore, described the 9.9 per cent, 2.2 per cent and 2.8 per cent reduction in deaths in the Greater Accra, Ashanti and Eastern regions respectively as heartwarming.

“Measures should be sustained in these strategic regions to help reduce the numbers at the national level,” Mr Adonteng said.

In all, 470 females were killed in the crashes, representing 21 per cent of the total deaths, while 1,806 males (79 per cent) perished.

The data further showed that 322 (14 per cent) of the deceased were below 18 years, while 1,954 (86 per cent) were above 18.

Regional breakdown

As has been the trend for some time now, the Greater Accra, Ashanti and Eastern regions had the lion’s share of fatalities with 485, 438 and 414 victims each.

They were followed by the Central, Volta and Western regions with 191, 130 and 120 deaths, while the Bono East and Western-North regions recorded 102 and 83 fatalities respectively.

The Upper East Region recorded 65 deaths, Upper West, 45; Ahafo, 42; Northern, 42, and Bono, 41.

The Savannah, North East and Oti regions had the least road crash fatalities of 33, 29 and 16 deaths respectively.

In terms of the categorisation of vehicles involved in the road crashes in 2023, private cars had the highest proportion of 10,767, representing 45 per cent of the 23,998 vehicles.

Commercial vehicles followed with 8,084, representing 34 per cent, and 5,147 motorbikes, constituting 21 per cent.

Compared with the figures for 2022, commercial, private vehicles and motorbikes decreased by 6.5 per cent, 7.8 per cent and 5.3 per cent respectively.

Collaboration

Mr Adonteng said that the consistent reduction in the CIDs for the past three years was ample evidence that when various stakeholders in the road safety sector worked hand in glove, the menace could be reduced.

He, therefore, underscored the need for the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), the Police Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD), transport unions and other advocates to play their roles efficiently and collaborate to help reduce CIDs by the end of the year.