Monrovia – Statistics released by the Liberia National Police indicates that road accidents and traffic offences in the country increased last year when compared to the previous year.
Report by Bettie K. Johnson Mbayo, [email protected]
The annual statistics for 2016 shows 1,557 road accidents compare to the 1,149 in 2015.
The statistics reveal that deaths in road accidents last year were 175 while in 2015 a total of 215 people died in such mishaps.
In 2016, road accident injuries were 1,539 compare to 1,118 in 2015. The increase was equivalent to 3.15 percent.
According to the Police statistics, 129 cases were taken to court in 2016 while 198 were taken to court in 2015. 798 of those cases were resolved in 2016 while 515 were resolved in 2015, 630 cases are pending in 2016 as compared to 436 in 2015.
In 2016, 2,096 vehicles were damaged as compared to 1,644 in 2015, and 2,649 vehicles were involved, while 1,997 in 2015. The road accident statistics also revealed that accident description either by car to car, car to pedestrian, motorcycle to pedestrian, motorcycle to motorcycle and self-accident. 4,061 accidents occurred, 1,149 in 2015.
Aaron Pewu, a pedestrian, attributed the increased of accident to poor visibility of zebra crossing and lack of awareness done by the public safety section of the LNP and other regulatory authorities.
The annual statistics is compiled from several deports in Montserrado County and the rest of the 14 counties.
Pewu emphasizes that about 90 percent of crashes are caused at least in part by bad decisions and dangerous habits by drivers.
In addition, multiple behavioral factors may be involved in a crash.
“Speeding impaired driving and lack of safety belt use has for many years been frequent factors in fatal crashes,” added Terry Watson.
Cecelia Dahn, a student at United Methodist University said: “In recent times, there’s been an increase in distracted driving including the use of cell phones behind the wheel.
The dangers of distracted driving, also known as inattentive driving, are not exaggerated, because distracted driving greatly increases the risk of causing a crash or failing to avoid one, people always need to pay attention to traffic and road conditions.”
And Meekie Gray, Chief of Safety at the Liberia National Police said:
“We will focus our traffic safety education and enforcement efforts on improving the behavior and decision making of drivers and others who travel on streets, local roads and highways.”
Gray said preventing crashes that cause serious injuries and deaths will always be a top priority for the safety department, adding that traffic fatalities are more than just numbers and statistics.
“Each number was a person whose tragic death was grieved by family and friends. And we know that hundreds of traffic deaths could have been prevented if motorists had only slowed down, paid attention, driven sober and buckled up. Therefore, we remain committed to our ultimate goal of zero preventable traffic deaths in the country,” he said.
In assessing the increase in traffic mortality rate, the chairman of the Mano River Transport Union, Augustine Nagbe said the simple act which could be done to decrease the number of accident is to carry out sensitization and enforce the law if they are violated by police officers.
“Many drivers always take traffic regulations for granted just to make things easy for them. Although awareness of road safety should be a personal responsibility, but the Police takes greater responsibility of the numerous is accident because the laws are there and it’s not told to the public,” Nagbe said.