Towing: The new face of vehicle theft?
In Ghana, statistics have indicated that majority of the fatal accidents on our roads are caused by gross indiscipline on the part of drivers.
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This includes the abandoning of faulty vehicles on roads and careless or improper parking of vehicles at unauthorised places.
In an effort to reduce accidents, the National Road Safety Commission and the Motor Transport and Traffic Department of the Ghana Police Service have given provisional authorisation to road safety agencies to remove abandoned, disabled and carelessly parked vehicles from our roads. This is laudable indeed.
One out of 10 individuals who drives or owns a vehicle might have had an encounter with authorities or personnel in charge of towing vehicles on our roads. And they will agree with me that it is not a pleasant experience.
There have been several incidents where an individual parks his/her car at a particular location (sometimes carelessly or illegally) to get into a shop, office, etc., only to come back and realise his car is nowhere to be found.
The first reaction is panic that the car has been stolen, until he/she is told later by eyewitnesses that the car had been towed.
No tickets, message or letter is left behind to inform the car owner where or how to claim his vehicle.
A similar incident happened to a friend whose car developed a fault while he was driving.
He parked at the nearest available space to enable him to get a mechanic, but on his return, his car had disappeared.
The initial thought was that the car had been stolen but upon second thoughts, he realised that it might have been towed.
He went to the nearest towing centre to claim his car, all to no avail. It was later that a friend called to inform him that he had seen his car at the police station.
He was made to pay an unauthorised amount of money before the car was released to him..
The manner in which vehicles are towed, especially, in the absence of the drivers in Ghana is not the best.
Our vehicles are no longer safe, as criminals with access to towing trucks can take advantage and steal vehicles; all in the name of towing (If it is not even happening already).
This is because there are no proper identification mechanisms to enable the public to identify government-authorised towing vehicles and personnel.
Moreover, there are no receipts, tickets or notes left behind for the car owner to indicate to him or her why or where he/she can go and claim the car.
Auto thieves today have become sophisticated in their actions and exploit, employing different methods to accomplish their tasks.
The fact that vehicle theft is still fundamentally a crime of opportunity has remained constant.
Thieves will always seek the easiest means to steal vehicles and the towing method could be one of the means.
Our road authorities must take measures to educate the public in order to curb this occurrence.
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