Passengers should report reckless drivers to the Police

Passengers have been urged to protest against reckless driving since their lives are endangered during such situations.

“Passengers must know that they have a civil right to report reckless drivers to the Police, in order to save lives on our roads.”

Inspector Simon Tenku, Public Relations Officer at the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit of the Ghana Police Service, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said passengers were the front-line anchors of the Police, and did not have to allow reckless drivers to endanger their lives.

He said it was unfortunate that often, passengers looked on quietly, as a driver drove recklessly and risked their lives, adding that many gory accidents had as a result.

Touching on other areas of road safety, Inspector Tenku said some of the worst accidents happened at traffic light intercessions, adding that drivers had to be basically careful at these junctions.

“Even when the light turns green, it does not mean you can automatically drive through. As a cautious driver, you would still have to be careful and make sure that it is safe to move on before you drive upon the signal of a green light.”

He said drivers had to take note of the fact that when the light turned amber, they have to stop “as responsible citizens”, and not try to speed past before the light turned red.

“Research has shown that majority of urban area accidents happen at traffic light intersections. Any defensive driver approaching a traffic light must therefore be careful,” said Inspector Tenku.

Touching on the seizure of driver’s licenses from offending drivers by the Police, Inspector Tenku said such acts by the police were not to bully drivers or intimidate them unduly.

“In our part of the world, we do not have a system that effectively helps the police to track down offending drivers. Typically, a driver would not report to the Police station as requested after being arrested for committing a road offense. The license is thus seized as a collateral to ensure that the driver reports as expected.”

He said even upon arrest and warrants issued by the courts, offending drivers who still had all their driving documents with them, typically proved very difficult to locate.

On the use of mobile phones while driving, Inspector Tenku said the laws of the country sought to ensure safety on the road by requiring that a driver must be absolutely attentive while driving, which made it unlawful to speak through one’s mobile phone while driving.

He said whilst the Police were lenient on drivers who communicated by their mobile phones through hands-free equipment, there was a law in the pipeline that would soon cause the arrest and prosecution of such drivers.

He reminded drivers that besides risking an accident through unlawful acts on the road, there were penalty units of twelve Ghana cedis per unit, by which a driver could be charged when arrested for violating road regulations.

“Most offenses go beyond 50 penalty units, which could be a fine, a term of imprisonment or both,” said Inspector Tenku.

He urged drivers to be more careful, especially with the approach of the Easter festivities.

“The general excitement that characterises holidays, coupled with the urge to maximize profits, makes our roads potentially very dangerous during festive seasons. We therefore caution drivers to be very careful as we get close to the Easter period,” said Inspector Tenku.