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What punishment does the law impose on traffic offenders?
Dear Mark, Road traffic rules are regulated by the Road Traffic Act, 2004 (Act 683) (as amended) and the Road Traffic Regulations, 2012, L.I. 2180. Under the law, behaviours by drivers which are unacceptable include dangerous driving, careless driving, failing to observe traffic signs such as driving through red lights and driving under the influence of alcohol.
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Others are failing to wear seat belts, leaving vehicles or trailers in dangerous places by or on the road, causing danger to road users and driving an unregistered vehicle or without a driving licence.
The main punishments the law allows to be imposed include compensation to the victims, restitution for destruction of state property, fines and in serious cases imprisonment not exceeding 12 months or both or in offences resulting in death, one could be imprisoned for a term not exceeding 40 months.
There is another punishment imposed under Section 58 of the act and Section 36 of the regulations. This permits a licensing authority to either suspend, revoke or cancel a licence granted to any person if the holder's conduct on the road makes the holder unfit to hold that licence. Before any revocation or cancellation decision is taken, the licensing authority shall serve notice in writing to the licence holder with reasons for the revocation.
The Motor Vehicles (Third Party Insurance) Act, 1958 was passed to make provision for the protection of third parties against risks arising out of the use of motor vehicles. The act has a disqualification provision. It provides that no person shall use, or cause or permit any other person to use, a motor vehicle unless there is in force in relation to the user of that motor vehicle such a policy of insurance or such security in respect of third party risks as complies with the provisions of the act.
The law further provides that any person who acts in contravention of the section shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding two hundred pounds or to imprisonment for one year or to both such fine and imprisonment, and a person convicted of an offence under this section shall be disqualified from holding or obtaining a driving licence. A disqualification under the provisions of the act shall be for a minimum period of 12 months from the date of the conviction.
What every citizen must know is first that it is mandatory to take up a policy of insurance to protect third parties if you intend to use or permit another person to use a motor vehicle on the roads in Ghana.
Second, if you use a motor vehicle without an insurance policy, you would have committed an offence which is punishable by a fine, imprisonment or a fine and imprisonment in addition to your disqualification for holding a driving licence for a minimum of one year.
The punishment applies to the person driving the uninsured vehicle at the time of the arrest, as well as the person who permitted the driver to use or drive the uninsured vehicle.
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In the case of SIMONS vs COMMISSIONER OF POLICE [1963] 1 GLR 205, Simons was the owner of a Mercedes Benz saloon car driven by his driver at Aboabo No. 1, Kumasi without a policy of insurance as required by the provisions of Section 3 of the Motor Vehicles (Third Party Insurance) Act, 1958. Simons and his driver were charged with committing a breach of the law. Having pleaded guilty to a charge of committing a breach of Section 3 (2), he was fined £150 and disqualified from holding a driving licence for one year.
He appealed against the sentence on the grounds that an owner of a vehicle which was not in his control or in actual locomotion could not be disqualified under Section 3 (2) of the Motor Vehicles (Third Party Insurance) Act, 1958. The appellate court held that the dominant intention of section 3 of the act was to impose a duty on the owner of a vehicle to see that his vehicle was insured when used either by himself or by any other person and in addition to a fine, to impose on him or any person who drove an uninsured vehicle, an order of disqualification to ensure obedience to that section.