bench warrant for the arrest

By Innocent Appiah

AN Ashaiman Circuit Court has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of 15 heavy-duty truck drivers who allegedly ran away from being prosecuted for Court after they have been impounded by managers of the Tema Motorway Axle load station.

The names of the drivers and their vehicle registrations are Harry-GW 6100 P; Joe-AS 5842 U; Kwame-GT 6476 Y; Nasiru-3156 N; Abraham-AS 1889 C; Abobi-GT 9567 W; Kodjo-AS 5971 U and T. T-AS 1327 V.

The rest are Baba-AS 4188 A; K. Dua-AS 3900W; Abu Sadique-BA 1257 Q; Moses Ohene-GT 5990; John Kwakye-AS 4409 C; Kofi Amidu 8022 C and Kofi Owusu-GE 3714 Y.

The drivers, who were among 26 trucks that were impounded at the station within a day for exceeding the permissible axle load limit of 11.5 tons, after the operations of the station resumed.

The weighbridge had been non-performing for sometime following its breakdown and as such the parts to restore it had to be imported from the United Kingdom. Hence, the apprehension of the drivers that night who have had resorted to overloading for the period the machine was down was taken by surprise.

Eleven other drivers who were among those that were arrested for overloading, were each slapped with a GH C300.00 fines, after which they were directed to shed-off the excess loads before continuing their journey.

Commenting on the fines, an independent axle load expert who wants to remain unanimous lamented that the fines are not deterrent enough because the cost can not remedy the damage caused on the road.

He noted that the damage to the road follows the fourth power law and as such the charges are not based on the law.

He explained that for example if a road is designed for about 16 years and all the trucks are allowed to overload, then it can only last for one year.

The specialist stated that if a truck is supposed to carry about 10 tons but goes ahead to take 20 tons, the effect of the damage on the road is equated to 16 trucks passing on the road and hence, gives it the fourth power law and that is two to the fourth power making it 16.

Meanwhile, GHA has proposed a new Legislative Instrument (LI) to Cabinet, waiting for its approval. In the LI, on-the-spot fine has been proposed, which is punitive enough to deter truckers from cultivating the habit of overloading on the roads.

Management of the Authority believes that when the LI comes into force, it would go a long way to address the numerous cases of overloading on the roads.

The axle load whiz therefore called on the courts to look at the excess loads and multiply that with the fines to make them commensurate, saying that there are discrepancies in the fines.

Since of the privatization of the station in August 2007, there has been dramatic move in increasing in the number of overloaded trucks processed for court, most of whom have been prosecuted, while there have been follow-ups of court cases too.

Since the court prosecution of offenders is swift and stern, most of the drivers have decided to divert to the Beach road to dodge the Tema axle load station.

However, sources close to the GHA revealed that another weighbridge would be installed at the Beach road to block the operations of the drivers, a situation that would compel the drivers to go back to the Tema motorway since the weighbridge on the Beach road would have a lower axle limit because it is not an international road.

The Managing Director of Universal Redeemer Limited, managers of the Tema Axle load Station, Albert Owusu-Ansah indicated that despite the fact that the fines are not deterrent enough, there is the need to place emphasis on the shedding off of the excess goods before the truckers are made to continue their journey, saying that they would be able to enforce it to the letter.

Mr. Owusu-Ansah called on the media to help nib in the bud all undesirable elements that are destroying the heavy investment made on the country’s roads by government and donor agencies.

He was of the view that the media have a role to play in checking the operations of the weighbridges mounted across the country to ensure that vehicles keep to the permissible weight in order to protect and preserve the roads.

Ghana initially had 10 tons each axle load limit, while that of the neighbouring countries were using 11.5 tons, and in order to keep in consonance with that of the Economic Community of West African States, Ghana’s tonnage was raised to 11.5 tons.