The Director-General of the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service, COP Francis Ebenezer Doku says his outfit will begin prosecuting drivers who flout road traffic regulations including use of mobile phones while driving and drunk driving amongst others.

The move according to him is to help reduce road carnage as it enforces laws to the latter for the year 2023.

Data from the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) indicates that crashes on roads reduced by 20% in 2022.

Speaking to Citi News on the successes chalked, the Director-General of the MTTD, COP Francis Ebenezer Doku said police will play its part in bringing road crashes to the barest minimum.  

“We have told drivers to wear seat belts as a safety measure. A lot of sensitization has gone into these issues, but drivers are as recalcitrant as they always are. Some listen to the advice others think it’s just a nuisance. Having said that, we will try as much as possible to pursue the agenda of road safety and for the recalcitrant ones we will take them to court for the law to deal with them.”

The NRSA indicated that from January to December 2022, out of the 14,960 reported road crashes, 2,373 died.

Those crashes, which involved 25,754 vehicles, caused 15,690 injuries.

In 2021, 2,970 deaths occurred through road crashes, a decline from 2020, when 3,073 people perished.

This means road crash-related deaths reduced by 20.1 percent in 2022 as compared to 2021 and 2020.

The figures also showed that the injuries in 2022 declined by 1.5 per cent, compared to 2021 when 15,935 were injured through road crashes as well as 2020, which recorded 15,988 injuries.