A hearing and speech impaired cleaner, whose name has only been given as Mr. Koomson, has been left with severe injuries to his legs and hand after a tipper truck crashed into one of the tollbooths on the Accra-bound side of the Accra Tema Motorway on Monday morning, July 12, 2021.
Two other victims, who were occupying a salon car that was hit by the tipper truck before it crashed into the tollbooth, have also been severely injured.
The driver of the truck, who was earlier arrested by the police, is also said to have sustained some injuries alongside one tollbooth attendant who reportedly had some minor cuts on the face.
The injured persons are all being treated at the Tema General Hospital.
It took the support of bystanders to remove the injured persons from the debris.
Video of the crash shows the body of the cleaner lying on the ground helplessly, with many onlookers at the scene.
“I was on the Spintex-Roadside, but a few meters away from the toll booth, I saw the tipper driver rushing to the booth at the Tema side. The rate at which he was speeding showed that something was definitely going wrong. Either his brake had failed or he was an inexperienced driver. By the time we realized, he had run into the toll booth “, an eyewitness, Kingsley Dunyo said.
Mercy Pinoko, a colleague cleaner who witnessed the incident, narrated saying:
“This morning, Koomson and I had finished cleaning the booths and were sweeping the street around when someone called me to take money in Booth 4. Then one of the police officers also called me to do something else, and that was when I heard a bang. I saw my colleague Koomson lying on the ground, with his two legs almost cut off, and an injury to one of his hands. The person who was in the booth had some cuts on the face.”
Police response
Tema Regional Commander of the Police Motor Traffic and Transport Department, Chief Supt. William Asante, told Citi News that information he had received is that a “vehicle had stopped to pay the toll and then the tipper-truck driver carelessly ran into the booth.”
“This is the result we are witnessing now. It is a serious accident, but not fatal. Some people have sustained varying degrees of injury and have been rushed to the Tema General Hospital”, he added.
Jeffery Koomson, son of the seriously injured victim also narrated information he received about the father’s misfortune.
“This morning, I received a call that my father has been involved in an accident this morning. He is deaf and dumb, and can barely do anything. So I rushed to the hospital only to see that both legs have been smashed.”
Meanwhile, the payment of toll at the Tema-bound side of the toll booth which was suspended by the traumatized staff for about four hours has resumed.
Monday’s crash adds to the numerous accidents that have occurred already this year.
1,000 persons killed in road crashes from January to April 2021 – NRSA
Road crashes have killed more than 1,000 people in the country from January to April 2021.
This was disclosed by Mrs. May Obiri Yeboah, the Director-General of the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) on Thursday, May 20, 2021.
She said last year, 2,500 people died from road crashes, adding that the figure is the highest since 1991.