The Director of Operations at the Motor Traffic and Transport Department of the Ghana Police Service, Dr Samuel Sasu Mensah has stated that, only an inspector or officer of a higher rank from the department can seize a driver’s licence.
Dr Samuel Sasu Mensah also revealed that road accidents, crashes and prevention can only be preserved by the driver steering the wheels of a vehicle.
His assertions comes after Daily Graphic reported that, an assessment from the MTTD department revealed that, about two thousand one hundred twenty-six (2,126) died in road accidents from January 1, 2021 to September 30, 2021.
In an interview with Kwame Koranteng on Anɔpa Dawuro on Republic Fm, Dr Sasu Mensah stressed that, if accidents may occur, blames and mistakes should be apportioned to the person behind the steer, the faults on the car and the road being used by the drivers.
The MTTD boss contended that, issues mostly raised by drivers that officers within the Motor Traffic and Transport Department harass and abuse their power on these drivers and seize their driver’s licence will be dealt with accordingly.
According to him, Road Regulations Act, Act 47 of the road traffic regulations 2012, 2180, the law stated emphatically that, n officer in uniform can stop, search and inspect licence as far as driving a vehicle is concerned.
He noted that only an inspector or officer of a higher rank can retain a driver’s licence for further investigation if only there’s foul play.
“If you read the road traffic regulations Act 47, 2012, 2180, any uniformed officer can van stop a vehicle, search and inspect a licence if the law requires the driver to handle that particular vehicle but with the issue of retaining a driver’s licence, only an inspector or officer of a higher rank from the department police department can retain a licence”. He added.
Meanwhile, the Nkawkaw MTTD commander, DSP Foster Asante has stated that, the service in any deployment make sure there’s a inspector or above is deployed in the group to supervise the activities of what happens in the day.
According to DSP Foster Asante, the Service mostly retain licence because the system is not smoothly operating and hence, when a driver is made to report himself after flouting the laws, because the service don’t access correct data from the Driver and Vehicle Licence Authority (DVLA), they are forced to retain their licences.
