Regional News of Thursday, 23 August 2007

Source: GNA

Group wants IGP to intervene to check vehicle overloading

Aflao (V/R), Aug. 23, GNA - A group of 15 travellers on Wednesday stormed the offices of the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Aflao to complain about police inaction to check overloading of vehicles in the area. Mr Clifford Blinu, spokesperson of the group appealed to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to impress on his officers in the Volta Region to check incessant and reckless overloading of commercial vehicles.

The group called at the GNA offices after they had confronted a commercial driver who recklessly overloaded the vehicle they boarded from Sogakope to Aflao.

Mr Blinu expressed disappointment that some commuters, seemingly ignorant of the law and the implications of overloading in the case of accidents, supported the driver during the confrontation. He also expressed worry about what he called rude behaviour of drivers towards passengers, "as if we had no rights once we joined their vehicles".

He appealed to the IGP to launch a crusade with the support of the judiciary to prosecute recalcitrant drivers and slap heavy fines on them, when found guilty. Mr Blinu accused the GPRTU in the region of being insensitive to the plight of passengers.