The Central Regional Manager of the Driver, Vehicle and Licensing Authority (DVLA), Mr Lawrence Adom, says passengers must always make their safety a priority when they are travelling. Passengers, he said, have a responsibility to hold drivers accountable all the time and serve as checks on drivers, in order to ensure that they (drivers) obey road safety regulations.
Mr Adom stated this during a road safety campaign, which saw the members of the road safety task force interact with drivers and passengers during an exercise to campaign against road accidents.
The main purpose of the exercise has been to educate drivers, passengers and the general travelling public at large, about the need to observe and obey traffic regulations to avoid road accidents.
The campaign, which started last week, would run till December and beyond, to ensure the reduction of road accidents in the Central Region, which has already witnessed an upsurge. According to Mr Adom, Section 158 of LI 2180 empowers the authority to inspect, impound and prohibit the use of any motor vehicle in an event of non-compliance.
“Act 683 of 2004 Section 120 empowers the police and vehicle examiners to inspect drivers’ license on the road therefore drivers must stop when they are signalled to do so,” he added.
Mr Adom further warned that any driver who refuses to stop during the operations would be chased by the police and arrested to face prosecution at the law court.
Passengers must serve as checks on drivers
“Driving and making a phone call at the same time is a dangerous thing to do, but it seems to have become normal these days. Passengers must boldly speak against these things,” he said.
“As passengers, you have the right to speak out when a driver is driving recklessly with wrongful overtaking in sharp curves and on top of hills. Be bold to report such reckless drivers at any police checkpoint,” he advised.
At the Third Ridge Junction in Cape Coast, some drivers who were spotted driving vehicles with worn-out tyres were made to replace them with new ones immediately.
