Rev Ismaila Awudu, Board Chairman National Road Safety Commission
Ghana has been selected
as one of the 15 countries to benefit from Bloomberg Philanthropies’ US$240
million commitment to help prevent road traffic deaths over a six-year period.
The initiative which
will be replicated across 30 cities around the world that has made exemplary
progress in combating road traffic deaths of which Ghana’s Accra and Kumasi
have been included.
The new fund is to
“effectively implement best-practice road safety activities, including running
hard-hitting media campaigns to raise road user understanding of risk factors,
training the police force in best practice enforcement and redesigning
high-crash, high-fatality corridors and intersection,” a statement by the
Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety, Ghana said.
The initiative hopes to
reduce deaths on high-mortality roads, including interstate highways, through
reduced speed limits, wider use of helmet and seat belts and fewer drivers
speeding and drinking and driving.
The press statement
explained the intention was to save 600,000 more lives and to prevent up to 22
million injuries worldwide.
Road traffic injuries
are the eighth leading cause of death globally and the number one killer
of people, ages five-29. More than 1.35 million people die and up to 50 million
are seriously injured in road traffic crashes each year.
Additionally, the economic
losses are staggering; a recent report released by the World Bank found that,
reducing road traffic deaths and injuries by half could add 7-22% to GDP per
capita in five selected low and middle-income countries over the next 24
years.
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