Courts in Ashanti Region realise GHC258,000 from road traffic fines

Seven hundred and sixty drivers were fined a total of GH¢258,000 by courts in the Ashanti Region between January and September this year.

The drivers were arrested by the Motor Traffic and Transport Directorate (MTTD) of the Ashanti Regional Police Command during special exercises.

The figure represents over 500 per cent increase over the previous year’s amount. Last year, the command recorded a total of GH¢42,740.00 over the same period from 136 convictions out of 215 cases sent to court.

Enforcement
In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional MTTD Commander, Superintendent Emmanuel Adu Boahen, said following a rise in road traffic accidents, the directorate embarked on series of exercises to clamp down on road traffic offenders.

He said 1,033 arrests were made between January and September this year and out of the number, 947 were processed for court and 760 of them convicted.

He said it was paramount that drivers obeyed traffic rules for the rate of accidents on the roads to reduce.

Accidents
Supt. Boahen said 285 people lost their lives through road accidents in the region between January and September this year compared to 240 in the same period last year.

He said the Ashanti Region recorded 2,426 road traffic accidents during the period and out of that, 717 were of serious nature, with 1,424 of them being of minor consequence.

He added that a total of 240 fatal cases were recorded in the first nine months of last year.

He said with the police enforcing the road traffic regulations, “we hope to see a reduction in the number of road accidents next year”.

Specifics
The Konongo and Ejisu Divisional Police commands recorded the highest number of road fatalities in the Ashanti Region this year with 45 accidents and 23 deaths, respectively, compared to 41 and 14 the previous year.

Again, this year, the Suame division has recorded 284 road accidents and 13 deaths, while Asokwa has had 256 road disasters and nine deaths.

For the same period last year, Asokwa recorded 10 deaths through road accidents, with Suame recording 16 deaths.

Appeal
The Ashanti Regional MTTD Commander encouraged the media to complement the work of the police by educating motorists on the need to drive carefully and to obey road traffic regulations to reduce the carnage on the roads.