Koforidua, Jan 05, GNA - The Eastern Regional office of the Driver and Vehicle License Authority (DVLA) in Koforidua registered 1,464 vehicles as at November 2007 as against 1,128 within the same period in 2006.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Koforidua in an interview on Friday the Regional License Officer, Mr Vincent K. Fiati, said the figure was made up of 1,107 patrol vehicles, 355 diesel vehicles and 2 LPG vehicles. He said as at 1200 hours on Friday, 68 vehicles had been registered and that if the trend should continue, more than 2,000 vehicles would be registered by the end of the year. Mr Fiati said the region also received 2,400 applications for license and out of that figure, 1,951 applicants qualified for the license with 448 applicants failing the test.
He spoke about increase in road accidents in the region and said he did not rule out illiteracy on the part of the commercial drivers as one of the reasons for the increase. Mr Fiati said he welcomed a proposal from the DVLA that beginning from this year, anybody applying for license should at least posses the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE). He was of the view that the proposal, when implemented, would reduce road accidents because majority of commercial drivers were illiterate and could not read road signs. Mr Fiati said a number of road safety programmes had been designed to educate commercial drivers.
