Drivers in the Eastern region have been accosted and all unapproved lights on their vehicles seized as the enforcement of the Ghana road traffic regulation 65 of the Legislative Instrument (L.I.) 2180 are put on a fast gear.
The National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), Police Motor Transport and Traffic Department (MTTD), the Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) in a joint exercise took the enforcement of the regulation to the Bunso stretch of the Accra-Kumasi Highway.
The six-hour enforcement exercise saw more than 300 vehicles, using the unapproved high LED lights, being accosted and made to remove their lights immediately.
Some of the drivers however proved adamant claiming that they were not aware of the law as well as commencement of the enforcement adding they need more time to remove their lights.
But the enforcement agencies have started to process and send culpable drivers to court.
Some drivers on the other hand have quickly looked for tools to remove the lights with speed while enforcement officers have been lending support to assist some drivers to remove the unapproved lights.
Other drivers were of the view that their lights were original ones bought as they were imported into the country.
"So, there surely is a reason why those lights were fixed on the car from source. Let's consider those reasons and not just force drivers to remove them," one of the drivers said.
A trailer driver in an interaction pointed that the enforcement of the Regulation 65 should have started from the Harbours so that all unwanted attachments on the vehicles can be removed before they hit the roads.
Meanwhile, Eastern Regional Manager of the NRSA, Dennis Yeribu in an interaction with GhanaWeb said the enforcement is not particularly against original lights but rather unapproved ones.
He further clarified that the Clause 3 of the Regulation 65 stated that a vehicle can have additional spots or floodlights fixed on them but it does not mean drivers can fix unapproved lights which blind other motorists and sometimes cause accidents.
"These are unapproved lights that bright so high that they exceed the accepted limits and end up blinding other vehicles which end up causing crashes," he explained.
