Licence Officer Worried About Accidents

THE EASTERN Regional Licensing Officer of the Driver, Vehicle and Licensing Authority (DVLA), Vincent K. Fiati has expressed grave concern about the way drivers continue to violate road safety laws and cause havoc on the roads.

Speaking in an interview with DAILY GUIDE at Koforidua, the license officer said many drivers especially the commercial ones have disturbingly been exhibiting gross ignorance about safety practices on the roads, resulting in avoidable destructions.

He therefore suggested that all agencies tasked to promote road safety move from their outreach programmes and rather organise in-house training for drivers over a certain period of time to enable them to apply the knowledge they had acquired effectively.

According to him, schools could be set up by the Ministry of Transportation in all the regional capitals and with the help of the police, fire service persons, DVLA, Road Safety Commission and the Ministry of Health, drivers could be trained on proper road safety measures. He suggested that at the end of the training, certificates should be given to the participants to show that they are qualified to drive on the roads.

"We must organise these courses for drivers and certify them so that together with the driving licenses, it will indicate they are qualified to drive on the roads," he indicated.

Mr. Fiati was of the view that any driver without such a certificate in road safety education should not be allowed to drive on the road.

According to him, many drivers do not even know how to administer first aid in case there is a minor accident while many others do not know the use of their indicators or trafficators.

He said the law says indicators must be visible about 500ft away but indicators on some vehicles are so dim that it is difficult to see it even when one is 10ft away.

He also commented on wrong positioning of reflectors, saying most of the big trucks site their reflectors so high that it becomes difficult to see it in the night.

Mr. Fiati indicated that reflectors must be positioned within five feet above the ground at the rear of the vehicle while the front must be within three feet.

He contended that in the past one week, various fatal road accidents had occurred on some of the roads in the Eastern region, stressing that the carnage must be halted.

The Eastern Region is rated the second highest in road accidents, after the Ashanti Region.From Thomas Fosu Jnr,