A total of 134 persons died from road traffic crashes in Kumasi last year.
This represent a 16 per cent decrease of the 160 which was recorded in 2021.
However, the number of road traffic crashes in the area rose from 1,255 to 1,550 from 2021 to 2022, representing a 24 per cent increase.
While deaths per 100,000 population also declined from 4.6 in 2021 to 4.4 in 2022.
These were highlighted during the launch of the 2022 Kumasi Road Safety Report.
In 2020, the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) partnered the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (KMA-BIGRS) to reduce road deaths and injuries in the city through the implementation of proven interventions.
The report used police crash data as its main source with the goal of providing ongoing reporting to monitor road crash outcomes in the city with the aim of significantly reducing road traffic deaths and injuries by implementing evidence-based interventions.
According to the Road Injury Surveillance Coordinator, KMA-BIGRS, Kingsley Wireko, pedestrians, motor cyclists and cyclists accounted for 84 per cent of the reported fatalities in 2022.
He mentioned that males accounted for78 per cent of deaths and 67 per cent of serious injuries and the highest proportion of deaths was recorded among those aged between 20 to 29 years in 2022.
Based on three year geolocation data, he said 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 said the highest number of crashes in 2022 occurred between 2:00p.m and 4:00p.m, which remained unchanged from the previous year, but road deaths were frequently reported from crashes between 8:00 a.m and 10p.m.
He said there was no pattern observed for crashes during the week but 43 per cent of the fatalities in 2022,occurred from crashes on weekends-from Friday to Sunday, adding that had been consistent since 2018 and might be associated with speeding, drink-driving and or reduced police enforcement on weekends.
Mr Wireko pointed out that studies of road injury risk factors on selected corridors found that 30 per cent of drivers in Kumasi were observed speeding.
Launching the report, the KMA ‘Mayor’, Samuel Pyne, noted that globally, road traffic crashes caused nearly 1.3 million preventable deaths, about 3,700 deaths daily.
He said the findings showed that there was underreporting of road traffic deaths in Kumasi which suggested that the magnitude of the problem was bigger than what was officially reported.
“This should be a wakeup call for those in transport, health, and other sectors to do more than we currently are to reduce the number of these preventable deaths,” he pleaded.
He mentioned the second Decade of Action for Road Safety from 2021 to 2030, which outlined the target to reduce road deaths and injuries by at least 50 per cent, and aimed to inspire national and local governments, and other stakeholders to set targets and use a data-driven approach to achieve the goal.
Dr Raphael Awuah, Regional Technical Advisor, Africa, Road Injury Surveillance of Vital Strategies, on his part threw light on the implications of the report findings.
FROM KINGSLEY E. HOPE, KUMASI