Ghana loses $4.55bn annually to road crashes – World Bank

The World Bank has reported that Ghana loses approximately $4.55 billion each year due to road crashes, which is equivalent to 2.1% of the country's Gross Domestic Product. This staggering sum encompasses losses from productivity, medical expenses, property damage, administrative costs, and the emotional toll on families. The World Bank emphasizes that treating road safety as a fiscal and economic priority rather than solely a public health concern is crucial.

The estimated cost of road crashes surpasses the budget of the Ministry of Health and exceeds two-thirds of the money spent on education annually. In 2021 alone, Ghana recorded 8,494 road deaths, with a fatality rate of 25.9 per 100,000 people, ranking among the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa. While there has been a 13.7% reduction in fatalities and serious injuries between 2021 and 2024, the improvement is from an already low baseline and does not signify a complete resolution to the issue.

A notable shift in the data reveals that motorcycle and tricycle riders now constitute a larger portion of road fatalities, accounting for 34% in 2021, up from 2.7% in 2001. The majority of these riders operate in the informal logistics sector, delivering goods and transporting passengers, making their safety a growing concern. Furthermore, a small fraction of roads—2.65% of urban and 4.37% of rural roads—account for a disproportionate number of accidents, particularly on rural major roads.

The World Bank recommends various measures to address the problem, including enhancing road markings, redesigning junctions, increasing pedestrian crossings, improving lighting on high-risk stretches, implementing stricter fleet safety rules, and granting the National Road Safety Authority greater authority. The World Bank connects road safety to broader transportation problems, such as inadequate road maintenance, weak institutional coordination, heavy urban congestion, and an underperforming railway network.

The report coincides with the government's Big Push Infrastructure Programme, which allocates $2.2 billion to infrastructure projects in the 2026 budget, presenting an opportunity to rectify Ghana's transport deficiencies, provided it comes with reforms in maintenance, governance, safety standards, and planning across various transport modes.