Road Safety Authority laments lack of towing trucks

The National Road Safety Authority has lamented the lack of towing trucks for the Ghana Police Service to remove broken down vehicles from roads.

According to the Authority, the last towing truck provided for the police service was acquired in 1988.

“Looking at what is happening, we do not have the towing trucks. They do not belong to us. The police do not have even a single one. I think the last one we bought for them was in 1988,” the Chief Executive Officer of the National Road Safety Authority, May Obiri Yeboah, said to Citi News.

This concern comes after a fatal crash was recorded on Wednesday involving a trotro and a broken-down truck at Tesano Junction which took two lives.

Mrs. Yeboah is however confident collaboration with the private sector would help reduce such incidents involving broken down vehicles.

“I think we need to collaborate with the private sector and encourage them to get involved so that we can remove these hazards from our roads.”

In 2017, Ghana considered the implementation of a “Mandatory Road Towing Levy” as part of a programme to ensure that all vehicles that break down on highways are cleared off the roads.

This was to be in line with Regulation 102 (3) of the LI 2180 (Road Traffic Regulations 2012) which imposes a mandatory levy on all owners and persons in charge of motor vehicles, for the purpose of towing broken down or disabled vehicles on the roads.

Drivers were to pay a road safety levy ranging between GHS10 and GHS200.

Commercial vehicles and taxis were to pay GHS40, minibuses were to pay GHS80, while heavy-duty trucks were to pay between GHS80 and GHS200 annually, depending on their tonnage.

Non-commercial vehicles were to pay GHS20.

The implementation of the controversial towing levy was suspended following protests from stakeholders in the transport sector.