No Formal Education, No Drivers License

Persons who have not been to school could no longer be legal drivers in Ghana
Koforidua, (E/R), Sept. 15, GNA - The Eastern Regional office of the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Authority, (DVLA) has registered 1,110 vehicles as at 31st July this year as against 926 the same period in 2007.

Mr Vincent Fiati, Eastern Regional Officer, DVLA, disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview at Koforidua. He said the office also received 1,951 applications for driving license from prospective drivers and out of that, 1,669 applicants passed the various examination and test, and were issued with drivers' license while 283 applicants failed.

Mr Fiati said during the same period last year, 1,583 applications were received and 1,293 were issued with license and 289 were refused. He said the large number of failures was due to the implementation of the new law governing the issuing of license, which states that a prospective applicant should posses at least a Basic Education Certificate.

Mr Fiati said majority of those whose applications were refused were those who could not provide any educational certificate. He said the new move by DVLA was one of the many measures being put in place to help reduce the rampant road accidents to the barest minimum.

Mr Fiati said it was unfortunate that majority of commercial drivers in the country could not read nor write and this had contributed to the many road accidents, because they cannot read and interpret road signs.

He also attributed the high rate of road accidents in Ghana to the lack of maintenance of vehicles, adding that, very soon his outfit in collaboration with the police would undertake an exercise to check vehicles which are poorly maintained in the region.

Mr Fiati said it was unfortunate that every single day there was news of road accidents in the country and appealed to the Ghana Highway Authority and Ministry of Roads and Transportation to ensure that regular maintenance were carried out on the roads to prevent accidents. Mr Fiati also cautioned drivers to avoid unnecessary speeding and overloading, which were the other causes of road accidents.