About 182 Motorcycles were involved in road accidents between January and June in the Tema enclave making it an average of 30 incidents monthly; the Motor Transport and Traffic Department (MTTD), Ghana Police Service has revealed.
The statistics indicate that in the first quarter, motorcycles which included; tricycles and bicycles, 99 were involved in accidents; and 83 in the second quarter.
Sergeant Richard Timinka, on behalf of the Tema Regional MTTD Commander, Chief Superintendent of Police, William Asante revealed this at the Tema Ghana News Agency and MTTD road safety campaign platform.
The GNA-Tema and MTTD Road Safety Project seeks to create consistent and systematic weekly awareness advocacy on the need to be cautious on the road, educate all road users of their respective responsibilities, and sensitize drivers on road safety regulations, rules and laws.
Sgt. Timinka explained that considering the number of people who sat on motorcycles, the rate of fatality was too high and called for strict observance of the road traffic regulations by all road users.
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He lamented that there had been a rise in road crashes in the Tema Region this year, saying that most of the accidents were preventable and urged road users to abide by the tenets of the Road Acts, Highway Code and Road Traffic Regulations.
Sgt. Timinka expressed concern about the rate of lynching drivers who survived accidents especially at the countryside, stressing that to a large extent it accounted for the hit and run situations revealing that most drivers who knocked down pedestrians left the scene of the accidents because they feared for their lives, as residents sometimes mobilized the youth to attack the driver.
Sgt. Timinka said drivers who knocked down pedestrians instead of picking up the injured to the nearest hospital for medical attention often run-away for fear of lynching.
He said the feeling that the driver had caused a life to be lost necessitating their action of lynching and meting out instant justice on the driver, “pedestrian knock-down may not be the fault of the driver alone, so we need to support the victim to the nearest hospital, instead of exerting energy on the driver.
“If you were in a situation whereby you mistakenly knocked down someone or caused an accident, would you expect to be lynched? In critical conditions after a knock-down would you expect your people to attend to you or lynched the driver? He quizzed.
Sgt. Timinka therefore appealed to Ghanaians not to lynch a driver even if accidents occurred as a result of negligence on the part of the driver or other circumstances, investigations would reveal.
“I take this opportunity to appeal to Ghanaians that if a driver knocks down a pedestrian they should not attempt to lynch the driver, but leave investigations to the police to handle,” he said.
He encouraged the media to take an interest in such cases by visiting the police station to find out the outcome of investigations since a lot of people were jailed, with some fined and licenses of others revoked.
