Use of rickety cars as school vehicles worrying-MTTU Commander

Koforidua, July 16, GNA - Superintendent of Police James Sarfo-Peprah, the Eastern Regional MTTU Commander, On Thursday expressed concern about the use of rickety vehicles to convey children to school and said those vehicles are often overloaded and pose danger to the children.

He told the GNA in an interview that the sitting arrangement in some of those vehicles was also not conducive for the ages of the children.

Mr Sarfo-Peprah appealed to all proprietors and school authorities to rectify the anomaly or face the law.

He said the MTTU would soon embark on a stringent operation to check and flush out all worn out vehicles in the region.

He said the conduct of some school drivers was worrying. “They think because they are driving school buses, they are exempted from the law and therefore drive anyhow as if no life is at stake.”

Mr Sarfo-Peprah said the fact that the vehicles convey school children to and from school did not mean that they would be treated differently from the normal road traffic regulations and those children need more protection.

He said in the interim, a meeting with all the proprietors of the private schools would be convened by the Regional Police Command to discuss the issue after which failure to comply would attract sanctions to ensure the safety of the children.

Almost all private schools in the region have school vehicles that carry pupils from their houses or vantage points every morning and back for a fee apart from the school fees.

Whiles some charge fees of GHC 30 per term for the usage of the school bus, others also charge a weekly fee of 50 pesewas or a daily fee of 10 pesewas.

When GNA spoke to some parents they expressed the same worry but added that the school vehicles were cheaper than hiring a taxi which charges at least GHC 30 monthly.

They said they had talked to the school authorities on the need to change the vehicles and they agreed and expressed the hope that it would be hastened when the MTTU steps in.

GNA