MTTD to flush out smoky vehicles
The Motor Transport and Traffic Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service, in conjunction with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), will soon embark on an exercise to rid the streets of Accra and other municipalities of vehicles with ‘tired’ engines that emit thick fumes.
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The exercise, designed by the MTTD together with the DVLA and expected to take off soon, would ensure that all vehicles which are not roadworthy are dealt with according to law.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Alexander Obeng, in charge of Research and Training at the MTTD, who made this known to the Daily Graphic, said rickety vehicles, including those that emit smoke, would be their major focus.
“We have decided that before a motor vehicle is issued with a roadworthy certificate, every single part of the vehicle must be in a perfect and acceptable working condition. Therefore, if your vehicle does not meet the standard, you may have to go and get everything fitted and bring it back for inspection,” DSP Obeng stated.
He added that the exercise would ensure that the city and other communities which constantly experienced this high level of pollution would be spared the agony of inhaling carbon monoxide, which is detrimental to human health.
When the Daily Graphic contacted the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the implications of the carbon monoxide emitted by vehicles, the Chief Programme Officer in-charge of public affairs at the agency, Mrs Angelina Tutua-Mensah, said six years ago, the EPA found out that the level of emission of carbon monoxide was getting out of hand and posing health problems to humans and the environment.
She said the EPA, therefore, decided to bring in some equipment, in collaboration with the DVLA, to test vehicles to check their level of emission.
According to the public affairs manager, people who sell by the road suffer from respiratory diseases such as bronchitis, lung cancer and asthma, as well as poor visibility.
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She said the EPA, in its bid to address and reduce the level of emission, mounted one of its equipment along the Kasoa- Accra road, near the tollbooth, to check whether the level of emission was permissible.
Mrs Tutua-Mensah explained that as a result of its findings, the EPA decided to design guidelines and standards to put certain measures in place to address the problem.
According to a medical officer at the Chest Unit of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, some of the health challenges that were recorded at the unit could be attributed to the inhalation of fumes from vehicles over a long period of time.
He entreated vehicle owners to maintain their cars to reduce environmental pollution, which affect humans.