The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) is collaborating with transport operators to ensure that all high occupancy vehicles that provide inter-city public transport services are installed with vehicle tracking systems and emergency exit doors.
Mr Rudolf Beckley, Chief Executive Officer of the DVLA, who announced this, said the DVLA was also taking steps to ensure that by May 2015 only vehicles with seatbelts for every passenger are allowed on the roads.
Mr Beckley was speaking at a press briefing organised by the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) to educate the public on road safety measures.
He said the Authority would continue to promote and implement actions to improve the competency of the driver and the condition of the vehicle.
Mrs May Obiri-Yeboah, Executive Director of the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), said the Commission had placed emphasis on the education of the public on road safety measures, saying that, it was worrisome to see road users disobeying simple traffic rules.
She said no country had successfully managed road safety with education alone, adding that, usually, road safety enforcement programmes complemented education and a strong regulatory regime to exercise control over the transport system .
Mrs Obiri-Yeboah said such regulations would help deliver the desired conduct from road users and road safety related institutions, and urged all road users to embrace positive attitudes.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Angwubutoge Awuni, Director General, Motor Traffic and Transport Department, said �a responsible vehicle owner who is mindful of his safety won�t put a vehicle that is not road worthy on the street.�
Besides, a responsible vehicle owner will be interested in the competency of the drivers he employs, and that, avenues should not be created for drivers to over work, over speed, overtake wrongfully and drive under the influence of alcohol and drugs, which poses a risk to lives.
�We shall however remain motivated to enforce the law, especially as we approach the last quarter of the year. Motorists who have chosen the path of indiscipline on our roads should better advice themselves because we shall descend on them�, he said.
In September 2014 alone, a total of 1,235 cases of road traffic offences were reported, out of which 835 were prosecuted and 641 suffered conviction with a total of GHc192,888 fines paid to the consolidated fund by offending road users.
�Greater Accra region secured the most convictions for road traffic offences followed by Brong Ahafo, Central and Western regions with 214, 115, 85, and 79 respectively for September alone. We shall continue to be firm with our duty to enforce road traffic regulations,� he said.
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