LARGE NUMBER OF CHILDREN DIE IN ROAD ACCIDENTS

Story: Kofi Yeboah
A survey commissioned by the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) in 2006 showed that a large number of children lose their lives in road accidents in the country.
It indicated that about 310 children died every year through road accidents, constituting 20 per cent of all road traffic fatalities in the country.
According to the survey, the Ashanti Region recorded the highest number of road accident fatalities involving children (23 per cent), followed by the Eastern Region (15 per cent) and the Central Region (14 per cent).
The survey noted that apart from the Greater Accra Region, a higher proportion (60-80 per cent) of children involved in road traffic accidents were associated with non-urban road environment.
For instance, about 54 per cent of children were killed on the highways passing through village settlements, while roads passing through built-up settlements accounted for 86 per cent of all traffic fatalities among children.
The NRSC, through Carl Bro a/s, contracted the Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to carry out the survey under the Transport Sector Programme Support II (TSPS II).
It was sponsored by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) with the aim of providing the needed information on road traffic fatalities involving children, trends, age, sex, regional distribution, among other data.
The NRSC found it necessary to undertake the survey in view of the limited and incoherent documentation on the magnitude and nature of road traffic accidents involving children in the country.
The commission believes that the availability of such documentation will pave the way for the development of strategies and measures to address the problem, considering the effects of road traffic accidents on the socio-economic development of countries.
Global statistics estimate that 1.2 million people die annually through road traffic accidents.
The data for the survey were taken from police accident reports for the period 2001-2005 with respect to road traffic accident fatalities involving children of 0-15 years.
The survey defines fatality as a child of that age group who died within 30 days from the time of his or her involvement in a road traffic accident.
According to the survey, generally more boys (55 per cent) died in road traffic accidents than girls (45 per cent), with children in the age groups of 7-9 and 4-6 being the most victims.
With respect to pedestrians killed in accidents, the survey revealed that children were the most vulnerable. That was because one out of every three pedestrians killed in traffic was a child.
It observed that child pedestrians accounted for 80 per cent of all road traffic fatalities among children in the country.
Most of them were killed by cars (40 per cent), mini buses (33 per cent) or vehicles carrying goods (15 per cent) while crossing the road.
“Studies (Lee, 1994; Tight, 1998; Afukaar, 2001), have alluded to the diminutive size of children and their level of understanding of traffic systems as the key contributory factors pre-disposing the child pedestrian to risk of death in traffic,” the survey pointed out.
Assessing the periods within which the accidents occurred, the survey noted that the months of November and December recorded the highest number of road traffic accidents in the country.
Furthermore, it indicated that majority of the accidents occurred on weekends (Saturday and Sunday).
The survey also noted that about 80 per cent of the accidents occurred during daytime (6.00 a.m. - 6.00 p.m.) with the period 4.00 p.m. - 6.00 p.m. being the most dangerous.
It observed that one factor accounting for the high rate of road traffic fatalities involving children was that many parents tended to overestimate their children’s ability to safely cross the street by themselves.
In order to reduce the spate of these accidents, the survey recommended that education on road safety should be focused more on children, especially those below 10 years.
In that respect, it urged parents, teachers, drivers and community leaders to educate children on safer use of roads.
The survey strongly suggested the teaching of road safety as a subject in schools, particularly at the primary level.
It further recommended the need to encourage engineers and planners to provide safe pedestrian facilities in the designing of new roads or when improving existing roads in order to make them child pedestrian friendly.