From Inusa Musah
Chief Superintendent Oduro Amaning, Commander of the Tema Regional Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD), on Tuesday morning, escaped near death on the Tema-Aflao highway, where he and his personnel had embarked on their routine spot check of vehicles.
Chief Superintendent Amaning signaled the driver of a speeding KIA truck to stop for another vehicle, after the driver had failed to do so when a junior ranked police personnel ordered him to stop. The driver, Michael Bawa, 40, accelerated when the Tema MTTD Commander stretched his hand to signal him to stop, but with the driver, driving straight at him, the Commander had to jump off the road to escape being knocked down by the truck with registration GM 3960-13.
There were five other persons on board the truck, and later, when he was arrested, Michael Bawa explained that he panicked when he was stopped by the first police personnel. “I was terrified when the policeman stopped me,” Bawa said shivering. Later, when his truck was checked, the police realised that his brake was malfunctioning. Furthermore, he was driving without a licence.
Last Tuesday’s road spot check exercise formed part of the Tema MTTD’s routine exercises to check the safety of travelling passengers. In the police’s bid to ensure that the safety of passengers was guaranteed and not jeopardised by some unscrupulous drivers, some passengers on board a 207 Benz bus rather expressed unhappiness when their vehicle was stopped by Chief Superintendent Amaning.
According to the passengers, they were in a hurry to get to their destination, however, parrying aside their protestations, the Commander carried out his inspection of the vehicle, and to the amazement of the passengers, the vehicle they were travelling on had its rear brakes disconnected. Again, the driver of the vehicle had no valid licence.
While some of the passengers, in confrontation with the driver’s mate, demanded change for the fare they had paid, others verbally lashed out at the driver for his ‘wickedness’. In all, 20 vehicles were impounded for various road traffic offences, including underweight driving and driving without licence.
Some tipper trucks loaded with chippings and sand were impounded for transporting the materials uncovered. According to Chief Superintendent Amaning, such practices by tipper truck drivers risk the lives of other vehicles behind them.
He seized the opportunity to entreat station masters at the various loading points to help the police in checking the road worthiness of vehicles and the validity of drivers’ licences before they are permitted to hit the roads. The Commander indicated that all the drivers would be processed and arraigned before court later.
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