The Director-General of the NRSA, David Osafo-Adonteng, who made this known to the Daily Graphic yesterday, said the exercise, which starts from today, was meant to prevent road crashes, injuries and deaths (CIDs), especially during the Easter festivities.

He stressed that in line with Regulation 102 (1) and (10) of the Road Traffic Regulations, 2012 (L.I. 2180), the authority would exercise the power to remove breakdown vehicles to safer locations “and surcharge the owners or persons in charge of the vehicles or trailers with the cost of removal and storage for immediate payment prior to the release of the  vehicles or trailers to the owners or persons in charge”.

He, therefore, charged owners or operators of vehicles to ensure that they immediately tow the vehicles from the roads in case of a breakdown or be prepared to face sanctions such as surcharges from the authority.

Mr Adonteng said in line with the Road Traffic Act, 2004 (Act 683), the NRSA had the power to “compulsorily remove or cause the removal of any broken-down motor vehicle or trailer left on a roadway or in a circumstance that poses danger, or that is likely to cause an accident or injury to any other person using the road”.
Section 21 of Act 683 provides that: “An owner of a motor vehicle or trailer or a person in charge of a motor vehicle or trailer which has broken down on a roadway and who does not cause the immediate removal of the motor vehicle or trailer from the roadway commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than 250 penalty units or to a term of imprisonment of not less than 12 months or to both.” 

A penalty unit is GH¢12, translating into GH¢3,000.
During the Easter holidays, there will be an increase in travels, especially on the Accra-Kumasi, Accra-Kwahu, Accra-Aflao, Accra-Takoradi and Accra-Hohoe highways. 
Statistics show that a lot of road crashes occur during the period due to speeding, drink-driving, faulty vehicles and human errors.

Transport operators often speed because they want to cash in on the increased demand for transportation. 

This often leads to reckless driving, resulting in road crashes.

Caution

To ensure that breakdown vehicles do not cause road crashes, Mr Adonteng directed owners and drivers of vehicles and trailers to immediately take initial steps to safeguard the vehicles when they become disabled until they are towed.

He urged drivers to place approved advance warning triangles, one at the front and another at the rear side of vehicles or trailers to prevent moving vehicles from crashing into them.

Again, he asked drivers or owners of breakdown vehicles to contact their towing services companies to immediately remove the vehicles or trailers to safe locations or physically contact the nearest NRSA office or police station for assistance.

“They can also call on the following numbers for assistance — 194 to the NRSA information centre or 112 or 0800 555, which is the general emergency contact,” he said.

Good move

A civil society organisation which works to ensure customer sovereignty and safer roads, CUTS International, Accra, has described the move by the NRSA and the MTTD to compulsorily remove breakdown vehicles from the highways as a bold step towards reducing the carnage on the roads. 

The West African Regional Director of CUTS, Appiah Kusi Adomako, said the initiative would help bring sanity onto the roads and ensure that drivers and vehicle operators acted in a responsible manner to help curb crashes and fatalities.

He reiterated the need for the NRSA and the MTTD to enforce road safety laws, especially those on road crashes and hot-spots, during the Easter festivities. 

He also urged the NRSA and the MTTD to intensify the enforcement of road traffic regulations by clamping down on driver indiscipline, such as speeding, drink-driving, among others, during the Easter holidays.

Collective responsibility

Mr Adomako said road safety was a shared responsibility and, therefore, called on all stakeholders to collaborate to help deal with the triggers of road crashes during the Easter season.

“Every road user has a role to play in keeping our roads safer. While there will be an increase in merrymaking, parties and gatherings, among others, during the period, we all need to be disciplined and adhere to basic road traffic laws to save lives and reduce road crashes,” he said.

He urged revelers who would be travelling to Kwahu for the Easter to stay away from excessive alcoholism that could negatively influence their behaviour on the road.

He gave an assurance that CUTS would support the NRSA and the MTTD to embark on this year’s enforcement campaign on the Accra-Kumasi, Accra-Kwahu highways during the Easter holidays.

Background

The NRSA announced that, effective July 1, 2017, vehicle owners were required to pay a mandatory road safety fee each time they went to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) to renew their roadworthy certificates.

The move, according to the NRSA, was to help promote safety on the roads by way of providing a reliable towing service, such that when vehicles broke down, the authority could ensure that they were “swiftly towed” to help prevent crashes into stationary vehicles, as well as help prevent oil from leaking onto the roads to destroy them.

When the NRSA announced that policy, it said modalities and contractual arrangements with Road Safety Management Company Limited (RSMCL), a private company, to implement a nationwide towing service to clear all abandoned vehicles had been completed.

The RSMCL then acquired 118 trucks for the national towing service, but the trucks were not put to use because the policy was aborted following protests by various stakeholders.