Police round up 40 'trotro' drivers
The Accra Regional Police Command, in a joint effort with the Amasaman Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU), last Friday, rounded up over 40 commercial and private vehicles on the Amasaman-Pokuase highway.
The exercise, which was started in October last year, was aimed at educating motorists to be cautious of the way and manner they ply the roads, while ensuring that drivers abide by the road and traffic regulations.
However, in the course of the exercise, the police arrested three commercial drivers who tried to bribe the officers on duty.
The impounded vehicles were charged with various road offences, including over-speeding, damaged windscreens, overloading, driving without a license, driving with bathroom slippers, using a commercial number plate for a private car, worn out tyres, and expired driver's license.
The Greater Accra Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Rose Bio Atinga, believed that the exercise would help reduce the high rate of road accidents across the country.
She stated that drivers whose cars had been impounded would be processed for court, for the law to take its course.
She further called on drivers to ensure that they carried along their driving licenses while plying the roads, as most of the impounded vehicles were without genuine documents and driving licenses.
DCOP Atinga advised drivers and pedestrians alike, to be careful and exercise constraint when using the road, and also abide by the traffic regulations in the country.
According to her, the exercise would not be a nine-day wonder, and that police are ready to check the carnage on the roads.
Kwabena Sintim, a driver of one of the impounded cars, with registration number AS 9070 Z, was arrested for a cracked windscreen. He was travelling from Circle in Accra to Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.
A driver of a KIA truck with registration number AS 9610 Y, who gave his name as Agyei Yaw, was arrested also for two counts – unsecured loading and attempted bribery of a police officer with GH¢5.