The National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) has removed proscribed lamps from 1418 vehicles across the country over the last week.
The exercise was carried out in collaboration with the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), following a coordinated enforcement action to improve night driving by enforcing Regulations 65 of the Road Traffic Regulations, 2012 (L.I. 2180).
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 percent followed by 263 mini-buses, 179 motorcycles or tricycles, 164 saloon cars and 106 pick-ups representing 18.5 percent, 12.6 percent, 11.5 percent and 7.4 percent 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 per cent of all offending vehicles impounded during the first week of the exercise.
Head of Regulations, Inspections and Compliance at the NRSA, Kwame Koduah Atuahene, expressed satisfaction on the progress made and the support from MTTD and DVLA.
“We are taking one step at a time to improve on 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,” he said.
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.
These killer lamps, according to the NRSA, blinded other road users and exposed them to the risk of crashes at night.
The Authority said penalty for using proscribed lamps or killer lamps was a fine of up to Ghc600.00 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).
GNA