KUMASI MAYOR LAUNCHES KUMASI SUMMARY STATUS REPORT AND SPEED MANAGEMENT PLAN
Mayor of Kumasi, Hon. Sam Pyne has jointly launched the Kumasi Status Report and Speed Management Plan at the Lancaster Hotel in Kumasi on Tuesday 5th March, 2024.
The Kumasi Status Report outlines and provides a snapshot of the scenario of speeding in Kumasi and summarizes both outcomes and observational data. It also allows the understanding of the holistic picture of speeding on roads in Kumasi and sheds light on where interventions to mitigate the issue of speeding within the city should focus.
The Speed Action Plan is also a document which puts forth recommendations to alleviate the rate of speeding outlined in the Summary Statue report.
The event was organised in conjunction with Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety, Vital strategies, John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, International Injury research Unit, World research Institute and the Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI).
Hon. Sam Pyne delivering his key note address indicated that the issue of road traffic fatalities and injuries remained a pressing global health and development concern, with each life lost in a crash being too many.
According to him, road traffic injuries caused a high burden of fatal and non-fatal injuries mainly affecting low and middle-income countries. He said the Global Road crash deaths were estimated to have decreased from 1.25 million in 2010 to 1.19 million in 2021, despite a growing global vehicle fleet, rising population of nearly a billion, among others.
He said as a Mayor, his vision for Kumasi has always been to proactively tackle and resolve current and future challenges through prioritizing data-driven policies and decision-making, adding that, he envisions a city that not only overcomes longstanding obstacles but also transforms them into opportunities while maintaining accountability to all residents, regardless of age or vulnerability.
The mayor also indicated that, in a promising statistical update from the National Road Safety Authority, the Ashanti Region witnessed a slight decrease in road crash deaths, from 448 in2022 to 438 in 2023.
He said the city of Kumasi through the BIGRS project has chalked many successes including the training of over 200police MTTD personnel and 5o Kumasi City Guards on effective road policing to strengthen enforcement practices, donation of the latest technology speed detection devices and various accessories to the police MTTD, and implementation of a Mass Media campaign named “The Surgeon” launched in 2022focusing on speeding and targeting drivers.
Others includes the Assessment of road corridors and safety enhancement works performed by the Department of Urban Roads at the South Suntreso Hospital Intersection, opposite Prempeh College, and the Launch of 3 road safety reports for the city of Kumasi to inform various interventions to be carried out by stakeholders among others.
Hon. Sam Pyne, officially launching the report said the Kumasi Status Summary Report was produced by the John Hopkins International Injury Research Unit in collaboration with Council for Scientific and Industrial Research- Building and Road Research Institute (CSIR-BRRI).
Speakers at the launch were Dr. NukhbaZia, John Hopkins International Injury Research Unit; Ms. Rebecca Bavinger, Bloomberg Philanthropies, USA; Ing. Francis Afukaar, Chief Research Scientist, CSIR-BRRI; Ing. Mark Okyere from the Ashanti Regional NRSA; and Nii Darko Darko, Snr. Urban Mobility Manager, World Research Institute.
In attendance were representatives from Road Safety Agencies, Ghana Ambulance Service, Urban Roads, Highways, Chief Executives and Directors of State Institutions, the media among others.
The Chairman for the occasion was Nana Yaw Akuoku, Otumfuo Assin Hene.