Nearly 60% of road fatalities linked to speeding, inattentive driving – NRSA

The Director of Regulations, Inspections and Compliance at the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), Kwame Kodua Attuahene, says speeding and inattentive driving jointly account for approximately 58 to 59 per cent of road crash fatalities in Ghana.

He says the two behaviours remain major road safety concerns and are among the key issues the newly introduced automated traffic enforcement system is expected to address.

Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile, Mr Attuahene said speed management had always been central to the NRSA’s work and the interventions it plans to improve road safety.

He cautioned, however, that the success of similar projects in other jurisdictions did not automatically guarantee the same results in Ghana, as their effectiveness depended on the prevailing social, political and economic conditions.

He acknowledged that some countries had successfully implemented state-led automated traffic enforcement initiatives, but stressed that regulatory design and implementation must take local circumstances into account.

Mr Attuahene said Ghana’s system was still at an early stage of implementation, with data gathered from its operation expected to help authorities assess its effectiveness and refine its outcomes.

“The project implementation is at the incipient stage, and it is from building data from implementation that we would be able to perfect some of the outcomes,” he said.

He identified Greater Accra, Ashanti, Western and Central regions as areas where speeding and inattentive driving were particularly significant contributors to road fatalities.

According to him, these are among the major road safety challenges that speed camera projects are designed to tackle.

His comments come following the introduction of the automated traffic enforcement system, which is intended to improve compliance with road traffic regulations, discourage dangerous driving and reduce road crashes through technology.