Accra,– The Driver Vehicle and Licensing Authority (DVLA) has arrested drivers in the national capital over traffic regulation offences.
The exercise, done in collaboration with the Motor Transport and Traffic Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service, was also to sensitise the public to comply with the regulations.
Some drivers were arrested along East Legon for various offences such as driving with a foreign license, having tainted glasses, using expired DV number plates, driving without number plates, vehicles with excess seats as well as invisible insurance and roadworthy stickers.
Mr Joseph Clifford Obosu, Deputy Director of the Driver Training Testing and Licensing (DTTL) Unit of the DVLA, said number plates should be embossed and issued by the Authority and not plastic ones, which were sometimes fake.
He said some vehicles were without reflectors, making them difficult for one to make out the number at night, adding that it was a threat to security and must not be encouraged.
The Deputy Director of DTTL explained that the practice was deceitful as they made the vehicles looked like foreign ones and warned those using such plates to desist from the practice, else, they would be apprehended and processed for court.
Mr Obosu also cautioned those manufacturing inferior number plates to put a stop to it before the law caught up with them.
On the use of DV number plates, Mr Obosu said they were issued to garages, workshops and that an individual could apply for it when travelling outside the country.
Such plates should not be used as the normal ones throughout the year, stating that they should not be used for any other purposes apart from the above mentioned.
He advised against unregistered vehicles carrying an unapproved number of persons, adding that the number should be at most two – the owner and buyer (tester).
Mr Obosu asked commercial drivers to stick to the number of persons approved by DVLA, stressing that there should be a 70 centimetres interval from the seats to make passengers comfortable and prevent them from being entrapped in case of accidents.
He said certificates of garage owners would be revoked should they alter DVLA’s number of persons on tickets given them.
On the issue of driving license, Mr Obosu said that it had a six-year life span, which should be renewed (validated) every two years and replaced when it expired.
Tampered number plates are plastics with no security features and often, customised and not issued by the Authority.
Almost all the drivers arrested with customised plastic number plates had the originals with them.
Source: Ghana News Agency
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