COVID-19 ‘flattens’ road fatalities by 40% during lockdown

The deadly coronavirus has caused a drastic cut in road accident fatalities even though it is synonymous with deaths and hospitalisation of its victims.

The disease which compelled President Nana Akufo-Addo to lockdown some parts of the country between March 30, 2020, and April 20, 2020, has plummeted national road mortalities by 40%, a significant slump from 115 to 69, for the same period in 2019.

The restriction of movement placed in Accra, Kumasi, Kasoa and Tema, areas that were considered epicentres, resulted in less vehicular population and road users on the streets, according to the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD).

The Head of Education, Research and Training at the MTTD, Superintendent Alex Obeng, told theghanareport.com in an exclusive interview: “While last year by now 115 Ghanaians have been killed, this year, though one death is one too many when you look at the figures, it is obvious that there has been a significant massive reduction in terms of deaths to 69”.

Comparing statistics from the MTTD for the same period, vehicles involved in crashes reduced from 1,346 to 759, a dip of a significant 44 percent.

Motor riders were banned from picking a pillion riders in order to observe social distancing protocols and resulted in a slash of motorcycle accidents from 278 to 216. There were fewer vehicles on the roads due to the temporary closure of many businesses with some personnel working from home. Only essential workers were permitted to continue normal duties. As a result, private vehicles involved in carnage declined from 606 to 280 and commercial vehicles from 462 to 263.

The total number of crashes reported also recorded a downward trend from 785 to 472, approximately 40% reduction.

Pedestrian knockdown which was 173 in the previous with 36 deaths, also fell to 128 with 26 being killed.

Superintendent Obeng observed, “The less vehicle and road users there are on any road space, there is a high propensity of minimal conflict leading to minimal preventable crash incidents”.

Meanwhile, the country has recorded 1,279 total cases, with 134 recoveries and 10 deaths, as of March 24.

The Greater Accra Region has recorded the highest number of cases with 1,089 followed by the Ashanti Region with a wide gap recording 69.

Fatal February: 171 died in road accidents; 23% drop from January