The use of ‘okada’ is causing serious accidents and loss of lives in the country day by day. Clashes that occur are fatal, causing amputations of limbs to the victims due to the degree of their injuries.
Records from the Accident Unit at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra show that these fatalities are increasing daily.
The hospital revealed that more than 20 persons have had either one or both legs or arms cut off within the last three years. The hospital has recorded over 2,000 accidents, only through okada.
Executive Director of the National Road Safety Commission, May Obiri Yeboah who noted the problem, said the cause is that, okada riders do not obey road safety regulations.
Mrs Yeboah suggests that okada riders need to be checked and made to abide by road regulations if it must be considered legalized.
The Executive Director of the National Road Safety Commission, May Obiri Yeboah said this on Radio Ghana’s ‘Behind the News’.
The Secretary of the Association of Motor Riders, Majid Amadu in response to the rising issue said okada riders are disturbed and arrested by the police which is the reason why they do not obey the road signs.
He said the arrests are not always sparked by the riders. He added that the use of the motor cycles are used by different people and for various purposes and therefore its accidents cannot be blamed only on the commercial riders.
Story By: Nhyira Kwabi
