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An accident investigator and insurance claims consultant, Anane Frimpong, warned that any attempt to legalize motorcycles for commercial use will lead to further loss of life and limb on the country’s roads.
He cited a report from the Ministry of Transport, which said motorcycle fatalities rose from 2.7 percent in 2001 to 21 percent in 2018, while the National Highway Safety Authority (NRA) had estimated that the probability of dying from an accident motorcycle was still 10 times higher. than a car accident.
Frimpong, who addressed a press conference organized by the Ghana Engaged Drivers Association, a group of commercial drivers and highway engineers, noted that rather than legalizing dangerous trade, governments should address the root causes of proliferation. the use of motorcycles for commercial activities. , popularly known as Okada.
He said that at the time of enactment of the law prohibiting Okada, motorcycle accidents ranked ninth on the list of causal agents of traffic accidents.
However, currently, Okada ranks second on the list of causal agents of traffic accidents, he said.
The insurance consultant said that in 2014 alone, figures released by the NRSA indicated that 2,571 people were hit by motorcycles, of which 1,856 lost their lives.
In 2015, he said, 2,289 motorcycles were involved in road accidents across the country, while in the first quarter of 2017 about 708 road users were killed by 4,049 accidents, and another 3,983 suffered varying degrees of injuries.
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Frimpong recounted a call from the Ghana Medical Association and some doctors to ban the use of Okada, with the Head of the Accident, Emergency and Orthopedic Department at Korle Bu University Hospital leading the call to save lives.
He said that from December 21, 2019 to January 1, 2020, the department admitted 79 traffic accident victims, 58 motorcycle accident victims and one bicycle accident victim, while between December 22 and 23 In 2019, 30 traffic accidents were registered. of which 20 were serious cases related to Okada.
He said that some of the victims had crushed bones, fractures, serious injuries, head injuries and trauma, noting that as a result of the severity of the cases, some of the victims had their limbs amputated to save their lives if all alternatives were useless.
Law
Frimpong said it was the aforementioned increases in accidents that forced the National Democratic Congress (NDC), with Mr. John Mahama as president, to pass the 2012 Road Traffic Regulations (LI 2180), with sections 128 ( 1) (2) and (3) and 84 of the LI that prohibit the use of motorcycles or tricycles for commercial purposes.
I was convinced that the factors that led to the approval of LI 2180 by Mr. Mahama and the NDC had not changed because people continued to die, suffered various injuries, drivers continued to disregard road safety regulations and people were assaulted at gunpoint and with knives, using Okada, adding that “the situation is dire and we cannot allow this to continue.”
He urged politicians to create a business-friendly environment that encourages the creation of more businesses to create sustainable and respectable job opportunities for young people, focus more on investing in agriculture, expanding the road network and fixing the rail system.
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