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The Ashaiman Municipal Private Transport Operation Coordinating Council, (AMPTOCC), the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly, and the Ghana Police Service have joined forces to create a task force to help solve the problem of road congestion in the municipality.
Speaking at a day’s media engagement, Samuel Amoah, the secretary for AMPTOCC, stated that the task force was to help reduce hectic traffic and road accidents in the municipality and ensure that drivers loaded passengers at appropriate terminals in the municipality.
He noted that the hectic traffic in the municipality was a result of drivers picking passengers along the roads and on the main road while other drivers were driving directly behind.
He added that the drivers who were found loading at an unauthorised places would be arrested by the task force at the assembly and would be made to pay a fine to serve as a deterrent to others.
Mr. Amoah also encouraged the drivers to join the Drivers Union so that they would be able to park their cars at the various bus terminals and load passengers.
“We plead with the drivers to join a driving union so that they will be allowed to park their vehicles at the bus terminals and load their passages, because even the road traffic law demands every driver to belong to a union, so the task force would not take any excuse when you’re being arrested,” he shared.
He added that often, passengers come to the bus terminals complaining of missing items, and upon asking questions, you will realise the station master doesn’t even know the driver because he’s not a member of any union or does not load their passengers at the bus terminal.
He advised passengers to come to the bus terminals in the municipality and pick up their vehicles so that such incidents would be reduced.
Also, he asked passengers to question their drivers when they are driving recklessly on roads or disobeying road signs and stop the habit of pressuring drivers to drive speedily because they want to reach their destinations on time.
He lamented that most of the road accidents in the municipality are recorded mostly during the festive season; he therefore advised the drivers to obey all the road safety signs and maintain a good relationship with their passengers.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office, Madam Vivian Ayerh, the transport officer for Ashaiman Municipality Assembly, stated that the assembly is working hard with the AMPTOCC and the police to arrest all drivers and their mates who park vehicles by the main road and use the assembly’s names to misbehave.
She added that the assembly had not issued any licence to drivers to load passengers along the road, and she assured the public that they would do their best to end the situation.
