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Commercial road transport operators are to register and obtain an operating license from the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) under its Regulation, 2020.
Additionally, floating drivers are required to either belong to a union, a company or an organisation as their operations would no longer be acceptable under the new Regulations.
Mr David Adonten, the National Director for Planning and Programmes at the NRSA has said.
He said this at a Regional Stakeholders Consultative workshop in Cape Coast, on the drafting of the Legislative Instrument to regulate road transport operations across the country.
It was to solicit their inputs from the stakeholders for a more refined and robust regulation for the sector.
The L.I, according to Mr Adonteng would provide a framework for the coordination, regulation, implementation and enforcement of road safety procedures, standards and regulations to bring hope and sanity on the roads.
Mr Adonteng took participants who included; transport operators, mechanics, drivers, DVLA, the Police, Fire Service among others and underscored the need to have operating standards on the road to save lives and property.
He said the regulations 2020 would bring into consideration road safety initiatives, advertisements, programmes and campaigns, crash and systems of investigation, fund management, audit certificate and approvals and road safety audit fees.
Mr Adonteng explained that the operating licenses would be issued and categorized as class “A” to “F” based on the services provided.
A class “A” license for instance, would be issued to an operator who provided passenger road transport services in the nature of intra or inter-city, inter-regional, international and taxi.
He said for transport operators to qualify for a license, they must have a training facility for continuous training for drivers, have a workshop or an accredited mechanic for periodic servicing, provide proposed scheduled route and terminal and recruit drivers with a minimum qualification.
They must also possess a tax clearance certificate, have a minimum capital requirement and must be registered with the Registrar General’s Department.
Mr Adonteng implored the stakeholders including; the media to play their respective roles and ensure that the roads were free of accidents adding that road safety was a shared responsibility.
Some of the participants who spoke to the GNA lauded the NRSA for the initiative to bring sanity on the road, but said the laws must be enforced without any discrimination.
They also stressed the need for passengers to be encouraged and empowered to be responsible and report recalcitrant drivers and also refrain from coercing drivers to over speed.
