Tow Levy Is ‘Laziest Approach’ To Road Safety – COPEC

Executive Secretary of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), Duncan Amoah, has described the controversial tow levy as a warped approach to ending road carnage.

Mr Amoah, whose organisation is part of a recently-formed coalition against the levy say road accidents are caused by multifaceted factors that cannot be solved by the law.

Speaking on PM Express, a current affairs programme on the Joy News channel (MultiTV), Monday, Duncan Amoah reiterated the widely-held view that existing laws, if implemented, would be more effective at reducing road accidents.

Parliament recently passed the implementation of the mandatory vehicle towing levy to be imposed on vehicle owners, sparking a backlash from the public.

The law which was to take effect July 1, 2017, was suspended over a similar public opposition.

It was suspended to enable the Transport Ministry to hold stakeholder engagements, before it takes off, however, that has not worked.

The National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) said the levy will finance efforts to rid the country’s roads of broken down vehicles that are abandoned and which cause accidents.

“It is the laziest approach every adopted and this [levy] will not solve the road carnage issue,” said Duncan Amoah on PM Express.

He said the public was not consulted wide enough before it was passed.

The law, he said, is "a deliberate policy to enrich some a few people at the expense of all other road users."

He said vehicle owners, commercial drivers especially, are already being charged many other levies and urged the government to heed to calls to scrap the tow levy.