DVLA task force to arrest drivers, vehicle owners without valid documentation
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) has set up a task force to clamp down on drivers and vehicle owners with invalid or inappropriate driving documentation, beginning this month.
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The task force, made up of officials of the DVLA and the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Police Service, is to arrest and prosecute vehicle owners and drivers who drive without appropriate driving documentation.
After a public notice published in the Daily Graphic on May 31, 2016, the authority said in spite of the public education, a number of vehicle owners and drivers violated some road traffic regulations relating to the use of valid learner driving licence, driving with valid driving licence and renewal/replacing driving licence.
Others, it said, also violated the road traffic regulation to use the right class of driving licence for the appropriate vehicle and the renewal of vehicle roadworthiness certification.
‘Goro boys’ document
In order to ensure compliance with the law, the authority said the national task force would embark on the exercise with full force and arrest and prosecute vehicle owners and drivers who violated the law.
“The exercise, which will be carried out simultaneously around the country, will be sustained in order to engender compliance with the law at all times,” it said.
It also urged vehicle owners and drivers who acquired their documents through ‘Goro boys’ to go to DVLA offices to authenticate them to regularise their vehicle documents to avoid arrest.
Exercise timely
In an interview, the Public Relations Officer of the DVLA, Mr Kwaku Afari, said the exercise was timely because people’s lives were at stake with drivers using invalid and inappropriate documents to drive.
Currently, there are a number of drivers and vehicles plying the roads with expired driver’s licences and roadworthiness certificates, while others were driving with the wrong class of driving licences.
Although the exercise has been a normal routine, Mr Afari said, it was going to be intensified this time round to ensure that drivers who flouted the laws were arrested and prosecuted.
He said the national task force would be headed by a coordinator who would manage the task force within the various regions, as well as the national task force.
“We do not expect to arrest anybody and that is why we sent out the public notices to inform drivers and vehicle owners to comply with road traffic regulations to avoid arrest and prosecution,” he explained.