Tema, Nov. 13, GNA – Mrs Cynthia Kwarteng Tufuor, the Tema Area Manager, SIC Insurance PLC, has described the increasing number of road fatalities as a burden on the insurance industry and the overall impact on families cannot be compensated.
“The increasing road crashes put an enormous burden on insurance companies who pay huge compensations to either victims or their dependents,” she said.
Mrs Tufuor, with an oversight responsibility over parts of Volta and Eastern regions, said this at the Tema Regional Office of the Ghana News Agency’s Road Safety Campaign Platform, which involves the Tema Regional Motor Transport and Traffic Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service.
The campaign seeks to actively create consistent and systematic weekly awareness advocacy on the need to be cautious on the road and educate all road users of their responsibilities and safety regulations.
Recent data from the MTTD indicates that 2,380 people died through road crashes while 12,899 persons were injured between January and October this year, representing 15 per cent rise in fatalities and about 4.0 per cent rise in mortalities over the 2020 figures.
The data says the crashes amounted to 13,244, involving 33,408 vehicles.
Mrs Tufuor said even though insurance companies took premium to provide cover for vehicles in case of legitimate liabilities – motor accidents that may arise in the use of the said vehicle were becoming a pandemic on the insurance sector.
The crashes did not only create a health challenge, but had significant economic cost to insurers and the state, she said.
Mrs Tufuor, therefore, commended the GNA-Tema Road Safety Campaign to ensure improvement in road safety, which would be beneficial to all, and pledged her company’s support to achieving the desired results.
Mr Francis Ameyibor, the Tema Regional Manager of GNA, called for consistent education of drivers to focus on the main task of driving and avoid multi-tasking.
“Driving is already multi-tasking so don’t over burden yourself with other issues which may affect your emotions, alertness, or obstruct your visibility,” he said.
The behaviour of pedestrians, motorcyclists, and cyclists were other major factors leading to road traffic accidents, Mr Ameyibor said, and reiterated the call for tolerance on the road to ensure safety.