Former Road Safety Boss In Road Accident

The immediate past Chairman of the National Road Safely Commission (NRSC), Mr. Johnson Cliff Aboagye, has been involved in a road accident at the Korle-Bu/Mortuary road. However, according to hospital authorities, he is currently out of danger and responding to treatment. Speaking to the Ghanaian Observer (GO) from his bedside at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Hon. Aboagye said. "I have been driving for 18 years without any major accident, I have driven for all of my life without any road accident, I have gone through the length and breadth of the country preaching on road safety and here I am today." Mr Aboagye, a business executive, was involved in the road accident last week Tuesday at about 8.00pm on the Korle-Bu Mortuary Road in Accra on his way home after closing from work. The former Road Safety Chair could barely talk as at the time GO visited him at the surgical ward of the hospital where he was admitted after the accident. Narrating the accident, his wife, Mrs. Mina Aboagye said she was called in the evening of the day of the accident and told that her husband had been involved in an accident and had been rushed to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. According to her, it was upon arrival at the hospital that she got to know about the seriousness of the accident, adding that her husband was not able to talk or do anything after the crash. Dr. Armah of the Korle-Bu Surgical ward said the Road Safety boss who had since the accident undergone two separate surgeries was out of danger. Investigations by GO revealed that on that fateful day, Mr Aboagye who was at the steering wheel of his white Benz salon car with registration number GR 515 V, drove into a refuse truck with...registration number GW 7612 X, which had a problem in the inner line just after the traffic light. The driver by the name Isaac Koli, had no traffic sign to indicate that his truck was faulty. He had prior to the accident been advised by passers by to push the truck from the line but he refused. The 52-year-old driver has since the unfortunate incident been remanded in police custody. During his eight-year term of office (2001 to 2009) as the Chairman of the Commission, the country recorded 67,810 accident cases between the year 2001 and 2006, (11,291, 10,715, 10,644, 2,164, 11,328, 1,668) respectively. 96,777 casualties out of the 67,810 accidents were also recorded by the Commission with 10,866 deaths, 34,174 persons got seriously injured and 51,730 persons slightly injured. The National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) of Ghana was established by an Act of Parliament (NRSC Act. 567 of 1999). The Act mandates the NRSC to play the lead role in championing, promoting and coordinating Road Safety activities in Ghana. The main objective of the NRSC is to plan, develop and promote road safety and to coordinate policies related to road safety. The NRSC's broad function is to undertake nation-wide planning and development of road safety programmes and activities. It is also to coordinate, monitor and evaluate road safety activities, programmes and strategies and develop and maintain a comprehensive database on road traffic accident and publish reports related to road safety while setting standards for road safety equipment and ensure compliance. The Commission currently has no board in place, after the 17-member board which was chaired by Mr. Johnson Cliff Aboagye had been dissolved among many others by President Atta Mills. Until earlier in the week when Mr. Yaw Gyan was appointed Chairman by President Mills, the Executive Director of the NRSC, Mr. Noble John Appiah oversaw work of the Commission.