‘Negligence Caused Tuesday’s Tragic Accident’

The National vice chairman of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union, GPRTU, Alhaji Issah Tetteh has expressed shock at Tuesday’s tragic head-on collision of two Yutong buses that claimed at least 15 lives. Ten other victims of the accident – eight males and two women between the ages of 22 and 45 - are in critical condition at the Accident and Emergency Centre of the Komfo Anokye Hospital in Kumasi, while others yet who survived with varying degrees of injuries are in other hospitals in the Ashanti region. The accident occurred between Akomadan and Nkenkansu in the Offinso North District of Ashanti at about 2am while the buses – one with registration number GC 4818 Z and the other GN 2673 10 – were said to be speeding in foggy conditions where visibility was very poor. One of the buses was travelling from Kumasi to Bolgatanga with the other heading to Kumasi from Bolgatanga. On Joy FM’s Top Story news programme, Alhaji Tetteh who reduced the cause of accident to recalcitrance on the part of drivers, said the tragedy was highly avoidable if the drivers were not negligent. “I am shocked. I am totally shocked because if they talk about the Yutong bus then it means that it is a new bus so there is no reason why anybody should complain about the bus [and suggest] mechanical error. This is a complete human error, complete!” He suggested the Yutong buses are less than one month old and called the accident disheartening. “You see it is human error, they don’t take their time in overtaking, they don’t observe road signs and every now and then we keep on talking to them. Even if it is night, your brother is having his lights on, you have your light on, if you don’t see the road clearly, why don’t you park? Why a head-on collision and losing about 20 people on the spot how, 20 people?” Alhaji Tetteh said virtually all stakeholders are engaged in educating the public and drivers on the need for safety on the roads, however a few recalcitrant drivers who sometimes even forget their own lives are at stake cause the accidents.