Johannesburg - Two hundred and sixty-six women have lost their lives as a result of road traffic accidents in Sierra Leone in 2019.
The staggering statistics were according to records at the Sierra Leone Roads Safety Authority (SLRSA), the Concord Times reported.
Manager, Research and Development at SLRSA, Ambrose Tucker said a total of 519 fatalities were recorded with men accounting for 214 and children 39.
He said that a total of 266 commercial and private vehicles were involved in road accidents as against 465 in 2018 and added that September stood out as the month with the highest number of accidents at 40.
In 2015, the country’s 1,661 deaths per 100,000 motor vehicles was ranked 12th by the World Health Organization (WHO) and stated that was worse than the African regional average.
Tucker said the fatalities and injuries were caused by to human error, mechanical fault, over speeding, drunk driving and overloading.
“For serious and slight injuries as a result of road traffic accident, we recorded 52 and 75 respectively. 35 pedestrians died as a result of road accident,” he told the publication.