I drive along the Dodowa-Accra road every day to work. On this road, one is likely to see police personnel stationed at various points. Between Dodowa to let’s say Adenta barrier one can count about four vantage points where police personnel are stationed for various checks on the road.
However, I have observed something quite interesting. I noticed that when the police stop a vehicle, the major thing they look for is whether ones road worthy sticker is valid or not.
Sometime ago, I had about one week for my road worthy sticker to expire, and I was very conscious of it. I had learnt about the way the police along my route operate and therefore, I was determined not to let them get me in any way.
I got stopped for the umpteenth time anytime I drove on that route. At one point, as I drew nearer to a spot where a policeman was stationed, he jumped into the middle of the road and flagged his hand vigorously at me.
I gestured to be sure whether it was me, and the flagging became more vigorous. I started wondering what might be wrong with the car. Well….I stopped.
When he saw the DVLA sticker, he just said “aaah” Madam go, I was tempted to ask him questions but I was in a hurry so I drove on.
I had similar reactions from two other police personnel on the subsequent days. So on the third day when a similar thing happened, I parked off and told them, “Sirs, I am very conscious of the
DVLA requirement, I live on this road and it is in mind”
They laughed loudly and said “Madam Paa” and I drove off.
It will be interesting to know the laws regarding the road worthy sticker, because a friend who shared his experience with me, said, he had travelled for over a month and during that time, his road worthy sticker had expired.
When he came back, his immediate action was to drive the car to a DVLA approved centre to renew the road worthy certificate but as he put it, “I had wahala with the police on that day”
Can motorists be educated on this, if my road worthy sticker is expired for about a week and I have forgotten, should that earn me an arrest?
MTTU please educate us
Let’s keep talking….
Source; Hannah Awadzi
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