Mr. Kwaku Ofori-Asiamah, Minister of Transport, has said the eight newly constructed and equipped Emergency Response Centres would start operations on February 27.

The centres built by the government at accident-prone areas would provide first aid services to road crash victims before being transferred to hospitals.

They are located:  Asuboi, Bunso Junction, Asankare and Juaso on the Accra-Kumasi Highway; Toje near Kasseh and Nogokpo on the Accra – Aflao Highway; Okyereko and Apam Junction on the Accra – Takoradi Highway.

Speaking at the Meet-the-Press series in Accra Mr. Ofori-Asiamah said the centres built through the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) would be a 24 hours service and manned by officials of the Ghana Police Service, the Ambulance Service, and the Ghana National Fire Service.

He said a collaborative arrangement has been made with the Ghana Health Service to attend to the victims at these health facilities upon arrival.

The Minister said the government has given approval for the NRSC to be converted into an authority with enhanced powers to ensure compliance to road safety measures, procedures, and policies.

He said a draft amendment proposal on the Road Traffic Regulation Legislative Instrument has been received and reviewed by the committee but it is yet to undergo stakeholder consultations.

Mr Ofori-Asiamah said an additional amount of GHC 6.5million has been given to NRSC to address road safety issues and also tackle the predominant factors that contribute to road crashes in the country.

On education, Mr Ofori-Asiamah, said the Commission in the coming years would scale up road safety education and sensitization in public schools.

Some 70,000 educational materials, he said, has been distributed to the public while a total of 692 outreach programmes have been undertaken at communities, market centres, lorry terminals, churches and mosques.

The Commission, the Minister said, has installed physical crossing aid for pedestrians aimed at training about 10000 pupils annually on safe road crossing.

Mr. Ofori-Asiamah said in the year under review, 2,341 persons killed and 13,677 people received various degrees of injuries due to road crashes.

He said the predominant factors leading to these crashes were “indiscipline among road users particularly drivers and motorcycle riders; acts of excessive speeding, wrongful overtaking, pedestrian knockdowns and disrespect for traffic signals at intersections by motorcycle riders”