POLICE MUST CHECK SPEEDING (PAGE 21)

Story: Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Takoradi

THE absence of the police from the road has given the motoring public the undue freedom to speed and act unsafely on the road, especially roads in the Greater Accra, Western and Central regions.
It would rather be prudent to ensure effective highway patrols to curtail the level of freedom being enjoyed by the motoring public, especially the commercial vehicle drivers.
The speed and wrong overtaking if not checked, would send innocent passengers into their graves earlier than the case should be.
In the Twin-City of Sekondi Takoradi for instance, police checks during the day before the directive that took the police off the road, helped a great deal in reducing the level of lawlessness on the roads in the metropolis and averting fatalities.
The police constituted a form of restraint which controlled the impatience and carelessness of drivers.
The police, for instance, stopped some drivers and made them to wear their seatbelts before they could continue their journeys.
The directive to take them off the road could be very good,but there is the need to take a second look at it.
In the advance countries, there are mechanisms to monitor the highways but once we do not have the technology we should resource the police to ensure effective patrols.
There should be enough or regular patrols in the metropolises while the yellow-uniformed or community police are at the traffic interceptions to direct traffic. This is because many of the motoring public do not have the slightest respect for the community police.
In the twin-city, for instance, drivers, especially the taxi drivers just get into the roads and also stop anywhere to pick passengers. Hitherto, they were afraid to do so because they could be arrested by the police.
It is a pity to find at roundabouts that those who are supposed to give way to others rather dangerously refuse to do so, which sometimes results in fatalities.
To rid the city of such unfortunate situations, the Western Regional Motor Traffic and Transport Unit of the Ghana Police Service (MTTU), has embarked on motor check operations in line with the police administration’s directive for nation-wide checks.
The checks are being conducted by a team of police with the assistance from Vehicle Examination and Licensing Division (VELD) and the regional road safety commission. Following these checks, 36 drivers in Sekondi-Takoradi were arrested and prosecuted for various offences.
Out of the 36, 21 were convicted and fined various sums ranging from GH¢300 to GH¢600, three others were cautioned by the police while bench warrants have been issued for the arrest of the remaining 12.
Some of the things of interest which the team checked concerned worn-out tyres and other badly damaged vehicle accessories and the culprits directed to change them.
According to the Regional Public Relations Officer, Ms Olivia Adiku, the regional command has started receiving complaints from a section of the general public, especially those plying the Accra-Takoradi routes and these concerned excessive speeding by both private and commercial drivers.
She said the police service wished to inform the motoring public that the absence of the police from the road did not warrant lawlessness and flouting of traffic regulations.
Ms Adiku asked the drivers not to take the traffic laws for granted by compromising the safety standards, thereby endangering the lives of the innocent travelling public.
“For the safety and sanity on the road, we implore members of the general public and passengers of commercial vehicles to report the behaviour of dangerous drivers to any police station for the police to deal with them appropriately,” she added.