Deadly crashes have been recorded on the Accra – Cape Coast road over the years
The world’s deadliest roads have been revealed through a new research with Ghana getting top mention for the Africa region thanks to the Accra – Cape Coast highway.
According to the British Daily Mail report, researchers were commissioned by an insurance company, Budget Direct, to identify the worst routes across different continents.
The researchers gleaned information from government websites, news reports and transport associations to arrive at their findings, the report added.
“In Africa, the road with the deadliest reputation is the Accra to Cape Coast Road in Ghana, which connects Accra to Cape Coast. Between 2004 and 2011, there were 6,104 accidents and 7,465 casualties,” the Daily Mail report noted.
In early 2018, the National Road Safety Commission, NRSC, disclosed that 60% of all accidents in 2017 occured on that road.
Ms Affotey-Annang, the then Acting Regional Manager for the Commission told journalists that road accidents increased from 788 in 2016 to 978 in 2017; which represented an increase of 23.7 per cent.
In 2017 therefore, 1,402 vehicles and 307 pedestrian were involved in accidents on the stretch killing 193 people and injuring 1,545 others.
Other deadly roads across Africa
Over in East Africa, Kenya’s Mombasa to Nairobi road was also mentioned as a deadly stretch which in 2019, claimed 27 lives within an eight-month period.
In the southern Africa region, Zimbabwe’s Plumtree-Bulawayo-Harare-Mutare Highway recorded 569 accidents in 2016 according to researchers.
In Central Africa, Cameroon’s National 3 highway was classfied by the United Nations as one of the world’s most dangerous roads back in 2014.
The route which connects the main commercial capital, Douala, to the political capital of Yaoundé, is marked by commemorative plaques that mark lost lives on the stretch.
Records indicate that a third of Cameroon’s 3,000 annual accidents are recorded on the road.