Road traffic accidents claimed 2,949 lives in Ghana in 2025, the highest death toll recorded in 35 years, data from the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) has revealed.
The figure pushes the cumulative number of people killed on Ghana’s roads since 1991 to 63,599, underscoring a growing public safety concern.
The latest road traffic crash statistics show a sharp rise in crashes, injuries and deaths across the country, even as authorities continue to roll out road safety education and enforcement programmes.
The data indicate that men were disproportionately affected, with 2,352 male fatalities representing 80 per cent of total deaths, compared with 597 females, or 20 per cent. This translates into a ratio of four male deaths to one female death from road crashes.
According to the Director of Research, Monitoring and Evaluation at the NRSA, Alexander Ayatah, the surge in all crash indicators was linked largely to the authority’s operational limitations in the previous year.
The fatalities were recorded from 14,743 crashes nationwide in 2025. These crashes also resulted in 16,714 injuries and involved 24,938 vehicles across all categories, including private vehicles, commercial vehicles and motorcycles.
A year-on-year comparison shows that 2025 recorded increases across all indicators. Deaths rose by 18.2 per cent from 2,494 in 2024, the highest increase among the indicators. Reported crash cases increased by 9.3 per cent, while vehicles involved in crashes rose by 8.5 per cent.
Injuries increased by 7.1 per cent from 15,607 in 2024, with pedestrian knockdowns also rising by seven per cent to 2,561.
Age analysis showed that 11 per cent of those killed — 328 persons — were children below 18 years, while 89 per cent, or 2,621 victims, were adults. This means that for every seven adults killed in road crashes, one child also lost his or her life.
Vehicle-type analysis showed that private vehicles accounted for the highest proportion of crashes at 41 per cent, followed by commercial vehicles at 33 per cent and motorcycles at 26 per cent.
Compared with the previous year, crashes involving motorcycles rose sharply by 19.4 per cent, while commercial and private vehicles recorded increases of 6.4 per cent and 4.1 per cent respectively.
Motorcycles with two wheels made up 72 per cent of all cycles involved in crashes, while tricycles accounted for 25 per cent. Bicycles and handcarts made up the remaining three per cent.
Regionally, Greater Accra recorded the highest number of crashes at 4,533 but ranked third in fatalities with 420 deaths. Ashanti recorded the highest number of deaths at 692 from 4,430 crashes, while Eastern recorded 649 deaths from 2,195 crashes.
Compared with 2024, deaths rose sharply in the Eastern Region by 33.5 per cent and in Ashanti by 10.5 per cent. Greater Accra also recorded a 10.2 per cent increase.
Despite recording more than twice the number of crashes in the Eastern Region, Greater Accra recorded far fewer deaths. The data show that for every 100 crashes, the Eastern Region recorded 28 deaths, compared to 10 in Greater Accra.
On the basis of these findings, the NRSA identified Ashanti, Eastern and Greater Accra as the most critical regions for crashes, injuries and deaths.
“The NRSA did not have resources last year to embark on road safety campaigns, so some of our regional offices were virtually closed down.
“The policymakers need to attach more importance to issues of road safety.
“Almost 3,000 people were killed in one year on our roads, and these are even reported cases; many cases are unreported.
“If we do not do anything about funding the NRSA this year, the figures will get worse,” the Director of Research, Monitoring and Evaluation at the authority said.
Ayatah also warned that without strict enforcement and regulation, the legalisation of motorcycles for commercial use could cause fatalities to rise even further.
