MTTU prosecute owners of cars with tinted glasses

The Police Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) in Kumasi over the weekend began arresting and prosecuting commercial and private car owners who use tinted glasses.

As many as 58 of such drivers were arrested during the exercise out of which 41 were prosecuted and convicted for flouting road traffic regulations.

The convicts, who pleaded guilty to charges of using tinted glasses against road traffic regulations, were convicted on their own pleas and fined between GH¢240 and GH¢300.

A total of GH¢7, 590.00 was therefore realised from the fines and the convicts were warned to respect road traffic regulations or receive severer fines in future.

The court issued a bench warrant for the arrest of one of the suspects who failed to appear before it.

The exercise was meant to enforce the law that debars both private and commercial vehicles from using tinted glasses.

The acting Ashanti Regional Police Commander of the MTTU, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Abraham Bansah, told the Daily Graphic that 16 of the transport owners who were arrested were however warned and released.

He explained that those who were warned and released were using minor tinted glasses as compared to the 41 convicts.

Explaining why the exercise was carried out, Mr Bansah said police investigations had revealed that the use of tinted glasses had been one of the major causes of fatal road traffic accidents in the country.

He said some of the vehicles had tinted windscreens and windows, which impaired visibility anytime there was a rainfall.

That, he said, created serious danger for the driver and other road users, sometimes leading to fatal accidents and the death of innocent passengers and pedestrians.

Mr Bansah said their investigations had also revealed that vehicles with tinted glasses had been used to commit armed robbery, abduction, and drug-related crimes.

He said some of them were also used to transport stolen and smuggled goods from one point to another.

He said by their nature, it was very difficult to see the occupants of such vehicles when they were committing crimes, and therefore made it easy for them to abscond.

He said under the cover of darkness, some of those vehicles were also used to promote immoral activities, stressing that active sex took place in some of these vehicles, hence the action to weed them out from the system to enhance sanity on the road and the environment.

Mr. Bansah warned that since the MTIU would not hesitate to arrest and prosecute those who used tinted glasses, it was better for owners of such vehicles to remove them before they were arrested.