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14.10.2011 General News

Judges schooled on new traffic laws

14.10.2011 LISTEN
By Ghanaian Chronicle

The one-day programme was attended by stakeholders of motor traffic regulations, including the Ministry of Roads and Transport, National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service, and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA).

The participants would discuss among other issues statutory sentencing provisions, guidelines and alternative sanctions available to judges and magistrates, and an overview of the various orgaisations and bodies operating in these areas, to ensure law, order, and a safe transport system in the country.

In an address delivered by Justice Jones Dotse, a Judge of the Supreme Court, on behalf of the Chief Justice, Mrs. Georgina Theodora Wood, he said it was critical that judges and magistrates were routinely informed and updated on new rules, regulations, and amendments in this particular area of law, to ensure uniformity in sentences across the country.

He said the robust judicial system must operate speedily, efficiently and effectively procedures in the courts to deal with the offences, to ensure law and order on the country's roads, to help provide the all important backbone for a safe, reliable, effective, and efficient transport system.

Justice Dotse said there was so much public outcry against indiscipline and carnage on the country's roads, and called for stiffer punitive measures for offenders.

He said road users often flouted road traffic regulations by driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, jumping of traffic lights, ignoring the wearing of seat belts and safety equipment, usage of mobile phones while driving, carrying of children in motor vehicles, as well as refusing to wear protective crash helmets by motorcycle riders among other things.

Justice Dotse said: 'There is so much perception out there that the punishments exacted by the courts, in respect of motor traffic offences, were too lax, lenient, inconsiderate, inconsistent, and varied so much that, a lot of blame had been put on the judiciary for this phenomenon.'

He asked the participants to discuss sanctions for defaulting motorists, such as payment of compensation to victims and their families, suspension of driving license, and suspension from driving for a specified period.

Justice Dotse advocated a regime where drivers whose licenses had been endorsed under Section (2) (b) of Act 683 would be published in the newspapers, just like it was done in respect with convicted drug persons or examination cheats.

'Secondly, I think the time has come for a national crusade against inconsiderate and careless driving, by the public offering assistance to the police in their investigations,' he said.

Justice Dotse explained that the Road Traffic Act, 2004, Act 683, contained very fine provisions, which if managed and applied properly, would eliminate all the acts of indiscipline on the roads, and encouraged all stakeholders to work together to achieve a common goal.

He said the Chief Justice had ordered that similar training seminars be organised for other judges and magistrates in all the regions across the country.

Mr. Paul Tawiah Quaye, Inspector-General of Police, in a speech read for him, said the staggering statistics on fatalities, as a result of carnage on the roads, threw a challenge to Ghanaians, especially, the Criminal Judicial System and other relevant stakeholders such as the DVLA, Private Transport Unions and the NRSC, to be vigilant.

He indicated that the changing phase of the criminal system called for closer collaboration with all stakeholders, and said that a well-trained, efficient and effective judiciary would face challenges applying the law to keep society in a tranquil state, if the police, who ensured compliance of the orders of the courts, were challenged with a void in their capacity, occasioned by the apparent lack of appropriate and adequate programmes.

Mr. Quaye said the police had played extensive roles in trying to find a lasting solution to the growing indiscipline on the country's roads, and expressed the hope that the seminar would help shape their future, promote confidence and trust to help salvage the situation. – GNA

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