The National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) in the Eastern Region has begun an exercise to arrest drivers and riders who use unapproved and high Light Emitting Diode (LED) powered lamps on their vehicles which obstruct other motorists and mostly caused road accidents.
The one-month cautionary exercise which is in collaboration with the Ghana Police Service and the Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) started on Thursday, October 7 and is expected to end in November to make drivers and motorists aware of the commencement of the enforcement of the regulation 65 of the L.I. 2180 which prohibits vehicles to have unapproved lamps aside the traditional lights on the vehicles.
After the one-month cautionary exercise, drivers who flout the Regulation 65 would be prosecuted.
Regulation 65 of L.1.2180 stipulates that;
1. Vehicles or trailers shall be equipped with electric lighted lamps or another kind as approved by the Licensing Authority;
2. A vehicle shall have two lamps in front, with one on each side of the motor vehicle and placed in a manner that exhibits a white or yellow visible light within a prescribed distance and to indicate the width of the vehicle;
3. Vehicles may be fitted with additional one or two auxiliary spots or flood lamps;
4. A driving lamp is not placed in a manner that allows the lamp to project above the bottom of the frame of the windscreen; and
5. Though a maximum of four driving and spot or flood lamps are allowed, the electrical switching should be arranged to allow the use of only two of those lamps at a time.
However, some drivers seem to be oblivious of the law and, thus, splash their spot or flood lamps at such positions that rather blinds on-coming vehicles and, subsequently, lead to crashes.
When the team of NRSA, Police and DVLA officers made a stop at the Koforidua-Adawso Highway around 6pm, about a hundred vehicles were accosted and were made to instantly remove all unapproved LED lamps on their vehicles.
Some of the drivers were boldly flashing their high-powered LED lights ignorantly believing that they were making the road ahead of them visible when, in fact, they were unduly obstructing and blinding oncoming motorists.
According to the Eastern Regional Manager of the NRSA, Dennis Yeribu, the Authority is going all out to clamp down on all unwanted flood lamps that drivers have fixed on vehicles to cause road accidents in the name of enhancing their visibility.
“These are unapproved lamps, additional to what have been provided on the vehicles already, which is against the Regulation 65 of the L.I. 2180 and need to be taken off out rightly, then we will allow the driver go away.
“His details will be taken. In the event he is accosted and seen with additional lamps again, then he will be prosecuted,” he said pointing to a car that had been accosted.
However, some drivers who were stopped and made to remove their lamps were not happy about the enforcement exercise.
Some of them who spoke to GhanaWeb raised concerns that the spotlights planted on their vehicles were meant help them to see well especially when they get to foggy areas like the Akuapem Mountains and also help them stay focus on their lanes on roads that do not have line marks.
A number of the drivers also gave reasons that the original lights, including the fog lights, that came with the vehicle were not bright and so they saw the need to supplement those original lights with the high LED lamps.
In his reaction, the Regional NRSA Manager explained that “if you think your lights are not brightening, you go the DVLA for the appropriate advice. You do not go and fix your own unapproved lights and say you cannot see properly with the approved lights.”
Some of the drivers expressed content with the enforcement exercise saying that they had been victims of such high floodlights on on-coming cars which almost cost them their lives. One of them urged the law enforcement agencies to keep doing what they are doing.
