Roadside parking and fines
The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) and other road safety stakeholders have been trying to put sanity on the roads in terms of ensuring that pedestrian and vehicular accidents are prevented.
The safety of the people is the ultimate and must be lauded, unfortunately, a particular trend is going on that is damaging psychologically, emotionally and economically to drivers. This needs to be addressed urgently. The issue is that, drivers are being fined for parking in places they are not aware are prohibited because there are no road signs to inform them.
No sign post
A lady recently left her sick daughter at home to rush to the office to send a message which had to be delivered by
1 pm. On the way she stopped by an orange seller by the roadside to buy oranges and remembered she had to buy tomatoes just close by to make some soup for her sick daughter. She returned to see her car locked by the AMA task force team. The team had left the scene and made one staff to watch the car.
When the lady enquired from him why her car has been locked he responded “this is a bus stop and you were not supposed to park here”. What? Where is the no parking sign, what shows this a bus stop? The lady blurted out and continued; the road is not indented, there is no shed or a sign board as depicts a bus stop. He replied, if you are coming to talk law you will make your case worse. Alright! The lady said, what is my bill? Unlock my car because I have an emergency assignment to deliver by 1 pm. The task force team member has to call his supervisor, this was around 12. 15pm.
The lady waited and waited and started becoming desperate when it was getting to 1pm and started yelling. The AMA task force team finally arrived at 1.50 pm. The lady at this point was exploding, obviously, she has missed her appointment, and she acted confrontational.
How am I supposed to know I should not park here when there are no sign posts indicating that? And why should you lock me up for almost two hours for a reason which I am innocent of. This is the first time I am hearing this place is a bus stop she concluded. Don’t tell me that replied the supervisor, get ready and pay your fine. What! How about the inconvenience you have caused me? Take me to your office I need to talk to your director the lady demanded.
At the office the lady met lots of drivers, most of them presenting the same story. One man stopped to go to the rest room in a house nearby and was locked up because he was not supposed to park there and he did not know.
Another was even standing by his car when they came to lock it. They were ranting and raving with bitterness and anger. One man kept cursing the workers because he felt he was being treated unfairly. Who at this point can vindicate these people, they have genuine reasons but their plea was not taken so they had to pay their fines. This is unfair the lady blurted out, unbelievable. In utter desperation she approached the senior person there “Sir, I am a woman of integrity and very disciplined, I will never intentionally flout orders or put myself in the grips of the law, there is no road sign, please I am innocent and committed no crime”.
Remedy
AMA and its stakeholders should ensure that road signs are mounted at the appropriate points and bus stops identified by standard structures before making the public responsible and accountable for the penalty of paying fines.
It will not be appropriate for our visitors or foreigners to be victims of this embarrassment; they need to be guided on the road. In an area at the 37 Military Hospital there are “no parking” signs with their spots fine clearly posted. In such a situation there is no excuse if you park and asked to pay a fine.
The Ministry of Local government, AMA, National Road Safety Programmes and relevant agencies and departments should mobilise efforts to address this issue. It is hoped that the social media will take it up and project it consistently until our roads are clearly posted with no parking, no stopping and other road signs of significance.
In the places where they have been destroyed they must be replaced, and not left for the population to make assumptions. If road sign structures are clearly written and posted then drivers and pedestrians can be made accountable and would accept to pay fines when they flout orders.