Roadside Checks, Defects And Infractions Delinquency Fees & Charges – Road Traffic Regulations, LI 2180, Regulations 158 (1-5)
I have taken the pain to go through the above list, forty eight (48) in number and found the exercise as a subtle way of DVLA to extort money from unsuspecting Ghanaians motorists.
Why am l saying so? – DVLA has the opportunity of addressing the listed infractions yearly or at six months intervals for private and commercial vehicles respectively, so why that manhunt or they do not trust their own process?
Is it a confession and confirmation that one can comfortably sit in his/her house and still be issued with a valid Road Use Certification, thus the need to conduct such exercises at the tax payers expense?
What amuses me is the DEFACED/OBSTRUCTED NUMBER PLATE INFRACTION which attach a whopping penalty of GHC225.
If Ghanaians care to know and learn, these “fit for all spaces” embossed number plates are minted and issued sorely by DVLA – there is no third party intervention therein, thus the issue of quality lies squarely under their ambit and must not shift the blame to innocent and law abiding motorists.
My question is: WHY SHOULD MOTORISTS SUFFER AND OR PAY FOR THE POOR QUALITY OF MATERIALS DVLA ISSUES AND IMPOSE ON THEM?
Number plates are supposed to outlast the life span of the vehicles bearing same, BUT here is a situation DVLA uses inferior material to manufacture these number plates which defaces/fades out at the least provocation only for them to turn round, accuse and charge motorist of bearing same.
Professor Duodu’s Ghana Standard Authority (GSA) is an accomplice in this enterprise. It has failed in their statutory duty to ensure that quality materials are used to produce same.
Yah, we are in a country where everything is taken for granted, NO QUESTIONING, whilst incompetence and failure to do the right thing reigns.
l am excited cracked windscreens are not part of the infractions for now. This is not to downplay on the safety ramifications of cracked screens in the road safety equation but considering how our road networks are inundated with potholes, sorry, manholes, a causation factor, amid motorists having the unpleasant duty of changing shock absorbers routinely at great cost and inconvenience at no fault of theirs, it will be a complete travesty of justice if it were to be factored – its akin to fetching water with a basket – you change same today and the next moment, it cracks again mainly due to unannounced manholes interspersing our road network.
One is thus tempted to ask: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE YEARS OF ROADS spanning some eight uninterrupted years?
l pray DVLA, which over the years, has demonstrably demonstrated their bias towards their regulatory role and metamorphosed into a cash cow, goes back to the drawing board, put their house in order first before venting their frustrations on innocent motorists plying their trade. Short of that, any move thereof is pure extortion, nothing else.
Written by Osei Kwabena Esq, Etia Street, Asante Effiduase
Editor’s note: Views expressed in this article do not represent that of The Chronicle
