This epidemic of road injury causes huge economic losses and places severe burdens on public health systems.
Ghana is not an exception and can do something to reduce the road accidents drastically.
Fortunately, this predictable and preventable global health emergency has now been given the international recognition it deserves.
Road safety is included in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal for Health, with a target to halve road deaths and injuries by 2020.
Road traffic accidents account for most of the trauma cases we see in our hospitals.
As 2020 comes to an end, Pulse.com.gh takes a look at the number of road crashes in 2020 that should make road safety a priority.
Accra-Tema motorway accident leaves several injured due to careless driving
A collision on the Accra-Tema motorway involving two motor vehicles, a Sprinter and a Toyota Ella has left several people with moderate injuries on Monday, January 20, 2020.
According to reports, the motor accident happened Monday morning at the Action Chapel junction on the motorway.
No death was recorded but several passengers sustained various degrees of injuries.
The driver of the Sprinter, the report stated was driving carelessly and refused to heed to the pleas of the passengers to reduce speeding.
14 killed on Accra-Kumasi highway
At least 14 people were killed and 50 others injured in a road accident on the Accra-Kumasi highway.
The spokesman for the Eastern Regional Command of the Ghana Police Service Francis Gomado said the accident happened when a cargo truck heading towards Ghana's second-largest city Kumasi collided with two passenger buses traveling in the opposite direction.
Gomado said the bodies of the dead had been deposited at a nearby hospital, while the injured were receiving treatment at various health facilities.
"Various hospitals and clinics are taking care of the injured, due to the high number of injuries," he said.
27 burnt bodies recovered from Kintampo accident
27 bodies have been recovered mostly charred, from the scene of the Monday dawn accident at Kawampe in the Kintampo North Municipality of the Bono East region in March 2020.
The accident involved a sprinter and a Yutong bus on the Kintampo-Tamale highway.
The cars collided and caught fire leading to the death of the passengers.
The passengers burnt beyond recognition in the inferno and the accident happened occurred between Dawadawa 2 and Kawampe on the Kintampo-Tamale highway.
Gloomy images from the scene have some of the blackened bodies lined up as recovery efforts by the Police and Fire Service and reports from the accident scene indicate that only 6 people from both vehicles survived.
Road accidents kill 1141 in first 6 months of 2020
The number of commuters killed in road traffic crashes between January and June 2020 has dropped by 8.79% compared with the same period in 2019.
The figure dropped from 1,251 in the first half of last year to 1,141 in the same period this year.
Data compiled by the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service indicates that 909 males, comprising 842 above 18 years and 67 below 18 years, were killed in road crashes in the first half of this year.
On the other hand, 232 females, made up of 175 above 18 years and 57 below 18 years, also lost their lives during the period.
The data showed a 22.85% decrease in pedestrian knockdowns as the figure dropped from 1,523 last year compared to 1,175 this year.
1,585 road crash deaths by end of August 2020
As at the end of August 2020, had recorded 9,205 road crashes, involving 15,459 vehicles, resulting in 1,585 deaths.
The situation, represented a relative increase from the situation over the same period of last year with a 0.34 per cent increase in the number of crashes, 2.9 per cent increase in the number of vehicles involved, 0.13 per cent increase in deaths, and 1.26 per cent increase in injury cases.
However, there was a 17.61 per cent reduction in pedestrian knockdowns.