Road Safety Authority to remove unprescribed vehicle lamps
To reduce the dangers that unauthorized lighting causes to other road users, the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) will begin removing them from vehicles starting this October.
The initiative, which will result in offending drivers being prosecuted, will be carried out in partnership with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) and the Ghana Police Service’s Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD).
Mr Kwame Kodua Atuahene, the NRSA’s Head of Regulations, Inspection and Compliance, told Graphic Online in Tema this week after a sensitisation exercise for haulage drivers and other transport operators at the Tema Port that the use of unlicensed, toxic killer lamps by some drivers, in violation of Regulation 65 of the Road Traffic Regulations, 2012 (L.I. 2180), was exposing other road users to crashes, especially at night.
Despite the fact that the authority to enforce the law only came into effect on September 30, 2021, Mr Atuahene said the NRSA and its partners, including the MTTD, had spent the first two weeks of October educating drivers and vehicle owners across the country about the need to remove unapproved lamps voluntarily.
“While the drivers seek their own comfort, they create a lot of discomfort for many others, so we must figure a way out. For now, the way to go is to come under the provisions of the law to take those lights down while we put a bit of pressure on the other agencies to also step up their efforts,” he stated.
In addition, Mrs Catharine Hamilton, the NRSA’s Greater Accra Regional Director, said the exercise would be used to educate haulage drivers, commercial bus operators, and other road users about the importance of removing unlicensed lighting to reduce the risk they posed, particularly at night.
Alhaji Mohammed Abubakari, Vice-Chairman of the Ghana Haulage Transport Union, expressed delight with the effort and reiterated the haulage drivers’ commitment to ensuring compliance.
He stated that the drivers were fully aware that the usage of high beam fog lights caused glare for oncoming traffic and led to road accidents.
“The state of some highways, the lack of road line markings, and low visibility on the highways compelled some drivers to repair the lighting”, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakari decried.
Source: Richard Mensah Adonu | Join our Telegram Group
