Bronya Eba ooo!!!  (Christmas is drawing near)

Regulations 94 (2) of Road Traffic Regulations, 2012, LI 2180, reads:

“Where a motor vehicle or a trailer carries an abnormal load, the registered owner or the person to whom the motor vehicle has been entrusted, hired or rented “SHALL PROVIDE AN ESCORT VEHICLE” at the owner’s or person’s expense and the Road Authority “SHALL” issue an abnormal load permit to the registered owner on payment of the prescribed fees”.

Clear and unambiguous provision, abi. l had had cause to write and prompt all who matter in the equation to the unbridled sight of these trailers with weird width transversing our “road scape” as if there are no laws pertaining to the subject matter and, again, as if no persons/institutions have been charged same.

On June 19, May 15 and somewhere in August, l had cause to piece something thereon. Two trucks mentioned therein belonged to very reputable institutions namely, De Simone and Engineers & Planners, but surprisingly no lessons has been learnt thereof as of the night of Saturday, 6th December, 2025.

Yah, around 9:45pm on the N1/George Walker Bush Highway were two blue headed MAN Diesel trucks, property of Engineers & Planners ferrying huge industrial tyres on such wried pay-loaders. These trucks, whose presence were well pronounced on the stretch during that night because of the weird cargo they were ferrying had not, no such escort vehicle(s)  as they meander through traffic.

Recall when we were small boys in the 60s/70s, such spectacles had, at least, one escort vehicle serving as harbinger and sometimes, another in tow.

Forty years plus on, when traffic has ballooned with its concomitant road crashes, bigger vehicles emerging on the road transport landscape and when and where these escort vehicle(s) are most needed, what do we witness – free range.

There are no escort vehicles for such trucks whilst the MTTD of the Police Service, NRSA, Ghana Highway Authority (GHA), Department of Urban Roads (DUR) and National Security, among others, look on in blind pretense – Are we progressing or retrogressing as a State?.

Interestingly, in the aforementioned years, there were no dedicated bodies like NRSA, MTTD (not an appendage ooo, but a full fledged division within the Police Service), things worked perfectly.  I am thus tempted to question the relevance of the aforementioned entities presently if we find ourselves in such a mess.

It may interest readers to know and learn that enforcement of this regime attracts additional cash into the national kitty, to wit, “…….on payment of the prescribed fees”. I am thus at a complete loss why we are not tapping into this “free money” to boost our domestic revenue.

Kindly permit me to quote from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, he posits, “HE WILL NOT BE A WOLF BUT SEES THAT, THE ROMANS ARE BUT SHEEP.

What I want to drive home is, safety adds to cost – escort vehicles and proper lashing, among others, thus any non-caring, insensitive business or entity will prey on our collective safety if not whipped in line. This is where NRSA and MTTD fit squarely into the equation.

Again, kindly permit me to play the “devil’s advocate” innocently here.

Fancy Abraham Amaliba Esq, (NRSA) or Prince Gabriel Waabu (MTTD) picking not their personal phones, but instructing their respective secretaries to place a call via the state funded phones to Enrico De Simone and Ibrahim Mahama to engage them thereon.

Axiomatically, the duo may be quite oblivious thereof (which is no excuse anyway), of the ripples of their actions and inactions. Bet me, it will work some magic and invariably free our road network of this nuisance staring us all in the face for which none cares.

I am no Soothsayer and practice not, sorcery, but at least, am imbibed with a little common sense not taught at any educational institution worldwide to inform me that this unchecked practice portends real and apparent danger to all and sundry.

I Rest my Fractured Peace.

Written by Osei Kwabena Esq., Etia Street, Asante Effiduase

 

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