BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Accidents occur in various forms; at home, work places and results in various forms of injuries to persons ranging from minor, serious – which sometimes leads to temporal or permanent disability, and death. One of the forms of accident that causes great harm and danger to humankind is Road Traffic Accidents (RTA). According to the World Health Organization (WHO) almost 16,000 people die every day around the world from all types of injuries which represents 12% of the global burden of disease. The WHO data further indicates that 25% of all the deaths from injuries are through road traffic injuries. According to Peden Margie et al it is estimated that 1.2 million people were killed and 50 million injured in road traffic crashes worldwide in 2002 and road traffic injuries was ranked the eleventh leading cause of death in the world. The situation in Ghana is not different as road traffic accidents have been identified as one of the main causes of death. According to Oppong it is classified as the second major cause of death following malaria. He further indicates that there is an average of 6 deaths everyday which was caused by road traffic accidents. Quoting from statistics from the Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI) Oppong indicates that in 2009, there were 18,496 casualties with 2,237 of them losing their lives while 6,242 sustained serious injuries. He further reported that the recorded number of deaths and injuries for 2010 and 2011 according to BRRI statistics, were not different.
