Parliament urges calm as commercial drivers take to street

The Vice-Chairman of the Transport Committee of Parliament, Tetteh Chaie, is urging calm in the wake of the violent protests that have greeted the implementation of the new directives imposed on commercial drivers.

The directives, introduced by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), among other things, include the need for all passengers in buses and taxis to wear seat belts and the need for drivers to attain a certain minimum level of education before they are allowed to drive.

The new directives have provoked lots of anger amongst commercial drivers across the country.

The drivers claim it is virtually impossible to have all passengers strapped in seatbelts due to structural difficulties arising out of the how their vehicles were made.

Some of the protests have turned violent especially at Ashaiman, a suburb of Accra.

Commercial vehicles have been parked in Ashaiman with drivers demanding the annulment of the new law.

Commuters have been left stranded in the midst of the controversy.

Reacting to the issue on Joy News, Tetteh Chaie admitted there are some “bottlenecks” in the implementation of the new law.

“When Legislative Instruments are passed, there are bottlenecks but the institutional frameworks are later clarified,” he added.

He was quick to note that there was a stakeholders’ meeting Monday to address the grievances of the drivers.

“As a nation we have a duty to be dynamic in whatever we do,” he pointed out, insisting, “it is for the national good” for these new laws and directives to be made.

On the directive to drivers to acquire a minimum education before qualifying for a driver’s licence, Tetteh Chaie explained the law is not necessarily for the old drivers but for the new ones who are yet to be issued with driving licences.

He regretted that some of the drivers cannot read and understand simple road signs, a phenomenon he noted was recipe for disaster.

He said as a nation some of these laws must be put in place to ensure we don’t lose money and human resource through needless deaths resulting from acidents.


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