The National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) has indicated that it will soon prosecute vehicle drivers who use mercury lamps.
The NRSA has currently begun an exercise to keep the roads safe for road users.
The exercise is to remove all mercury lamps from vehicles using them as these lamps are a contributory factor to the road carnages in the country.
This was disclosed by the NRSA Senior Planning and Programmes Manager, Henry Asomani while speaking on Peace FM's flagship programme ''Kokrokoo''.
Giving statistics of the exercise, Mr. Asomani noted that, "as at now, we have removed the lamps from 1,418 cars".
He gave a breakdown stating the Authority has removed the mercury lamps from 904 commercial, 393 private and 99 institution vehicles together with 22 cars that don't have ownership.
Regionally, the Greater Accra is leading on the list with 223 vehicles being affected by the exercise.
The Bono, Volta and Northern Regions recorded 182, 32 and 10 vehicles respectively; the Authority is also extending the exercise to cover all Regions in the nation.
Henry Asomani further revealed that the Authority shockingly realized some motorcycle riders have also fixed such lamps, so removed a number of 179 lamps.
The exercise, he stressed, is ongoing stressing ''for now it's sensitization but as time goes on, we will not only remove the lamps but also prosecute'' the offenders.
NRSA Statistics
''Out of a total of the 1418 vehicles accosted during the exercise, 900 vehicles were registered as commercial vehicles, 99 as institutional vehicles and 393 as private vehicles. Trucks and trailers led the pack of offending vehicles with 602 representing, 42.4% followed by 263 mini-buses, 179 motorcycles/tricycles, 164 saloon cars and and 106 pick-ups representing 18.5%, 12.6% and 11.5% and 7.4% respectively.
''The top six regions for the abuse of Regulation 65 were Greater Accra (223), Bono (182), Bono East (121) Upper East(146), Oti(112) and Western(107) regions. These Regions account for 63.3% of all offending vehicles impounded during the first week of the exercise.''
The Head of Regulations, Inspections & Compliance at the NRSA, Kwame Koduah Atuahene expressed satisfaction on the progress made and the support from MTTD and DVLA and said, ''we are taking one step at a time to improve upon the current road safety situation. Removing killer lamps from 1418 vehicles means that we have potentially prevented 1418 crashes at night''.
''We expect vehicle owners and drivers to voluntarily comply with these standards or regulations while the amnesty from prosecution is still open. From next week, we shall kick in prosecution of offending drivers while the Authority considers an imposition of administrative penalties against organizations that fail to ensure that their vehicles comply with Regulation 65 of L.I. 2180.''
Warning
The Authority has since September this year been educating the public on the requirements of Regulation 65 and the dangers associated with using excess lamps or wrong placement of lamps on our vehicles.
''They blind other road users and expose them to the risk of crashes at night'', the Authority says.
According to NRSA, ''the penalty for using unprescribed lamps or killer lamps is a fine of up to six hundred Ghana cedis and imprisonment of up to three months or both against the offending driver. However, in the case of vehicles registered by institutions or permitted for use by institutions without complying with Regulation 65 of the Road Traffic Regulations, the Authority may exercise its mandate to impose an administrative penalty of between 5,000 penalty units (GHs60,000) and 10,000 penalty units (GHs120,000)''.
Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
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