The Police Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) �war,� on commercial and private car owners who use tinted glasses broke-down as more cars with tinted glasses hit the roads in Accra.
Ghana News Agency spotted a total of 308 commercial and private cars with tinted glasses during a 90 minute traffic watch operation at the National Theatre traffic intersection and on the Professor John Evans Atta Mills High Street, in Accra.
A total of 200 cars have fully tinted glasses while another 108 are partially tinted in contravention of the road traffic regulations and Legislative Instrument 952.
The statistics indicates that over 55 per cent of the cars were four wheel drives, 10 per cent commercial and 35 per cent saloon cars.
GNA investigation reveals it�s an offence under the Legislative Instrument (L.I.952) and the Road Traffic Regulation for owners of commercial and private vehicles to tint their windows.
GNA also observed that contrary to the Road Traffic Regulation most drivers of both private and commercial vehicles failed to wear seat belts, an act classified as unsafe driving practices.
GNA investigations indicates that the MTTU in 2009 embarked on an operation to arrest and prosecute commercial and private car owners who use tinted glasses.
The exercise was meant to enforce the law that debars both private and commercial vehicles from using tinted glasses.
A Police Source in Accra however told the GNA that the exercise would start again soon as the police have not abandon the operations.
The source said investigations had revealed that the use of tinted glasses had been one of the major causes of fatal road traffic accidents in the country.
The Police source explained that some of the vehicles had tinted windscreens and windows, which impaired visibility anytime there was rainfall�created serious danger for the driver and other road users, sometimes leading to fatal accidents and the death of innocent passengers and pedestrians.
The Police also explained that further investigations had also revealed that vehicles with tinted glasses had been used to commit armed robbery, abduction, and drug-related crimes.
Some of these vehicles are also used to transport stolen and smuggled goods from one point to another.
The Police warned that the MTTU would not hesitate to arrest and prosecute those who used tinted glasses, it was better for owners of such vehicles to remove them to avoid being arrested.
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