Vehicle Inspection Centers: A Double Necessity
The vehicle is the
main machine in the road safety system. It is that component/machine
which can take you safely to your destination of become the cause of an
accident resulting in the loss of lives and property.
It is
therefore imperative at every point that the vehicle is in good
condition. The liability/ legal responsibility on any vehicle owner, is
summarized by the words of a former Driver and Vehicle Licensing
Authority (DVLA) Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Justice Amegashie; “(as a
vehicle owner) the law imposes two primary duties on you.
One,
your vehicles must be fit and safe. Two; that the person who drives the
vehicle must be competent, knowledgeable and skillful and use the skill
with diligence.
Then when you look at the law, common law, it
says that the carrier, whether private or common is answerable for the
soundness and sufficiency of the vehicle.
And is answerable and
liable for any defect which reasonable inspection will reveal. So
through vehicle testing, your liability may not affect you because
through vehicle testing, you see the soundness.”
From the above,
vehicle checks go far beyond what the eye can see, the nose can smell,
even what the wayside mechanic can detect. So in the interest of public
safety, that responsibility must be policed.
Hence, the DVLA’s
legal mandate to ensure the safety of vehicles plying our roads. This
they have to do by checking vehicle road worthiness before granting
certificates to drivers.
And then by law as contained in the Road
Traffic Regulations (LI 2180) of 2012, the DVLA has the additional
mandate to licenses private vehicle test stations or Vehicle Inspection
Centers (VICs)
The importance of VICs according to a presentation by the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) is as follows:
1. To ensure that condition of vehicles comply with required standards to mitigate vehicle related road crashes
2. To ensure that any equipment, fittings and fixtures required on the vehicle are present and serviceable
3.
Roadworthiness checks not only contribute to road safety by making sure
the vehicle is functioning properly, they are also important for
environmental reasons and for ensuring fair competition in the transport
sector.
Here in Ghana, currently the DVLA has licensed four SPC
at Weija, BIVAC at Kuntunse, BenSam at Oyibi and Vito at Dome. But all
these VICs test for new registration and private vehicles.
Every
now and then, the issue has come up about why they are not allowed to
inspect commercial vehicles. Given that commercial vehicles are those
that are usually carrying more passengers and also those most prone to
accidents according to available road safety statistics.
The DVLA
still does inspection and road safety analysis for commercial
transport, a process that has for long been tagged as corrupt. So much
so that vehicles need not be brought to test centers yet stickers can be
issued.
VICs on the flip side, with their limited numbers and
scope (southern belt) guard better against issues of corruptibility and
there exists a very high probability that most commercial vehicles would
hardly show up there but rather prefer that the status quo as it is at
the DVLA premises pertains.
VICs may be inundated by cars during
working days and inspecting commercial vehicles would increase their
load. But that looks like the surest bet to ensuring increased sanity on
our roads.
Truth is that most of these vehicles especially the
trotro’s (mini buses) that carry a minimum of fifteen passengers are NOT
FIT (caps mine) to ply our roads. They are a road safety threat that
miraculously keeps killing people miraculously on an almost daily basis.
For
so long as not everyone can afford private vehicles, the commercial
transport community would always stay relevant, very relevant. The onus
lies now on the authorities that be and on individuals to champion the
cause of safety anytime, anywhere any day on our roads.
VICs play
an important role in ensuring this safety, countries the world over who
take VIC operations seriously are known to have reduced their accident
figures, we can certainly do same. God bless our homeland Ghana.
Thanks for reading
Abdur Rahman Alfa Shaban
newcguide@gmail.com
