The Police Administration has suspended the introduction of the spot fine under which offending drivers will be charged on the spot for committing minor offences.
The initiative, which was supposed to take off from this month, as announced earlier, has been postponed till further notice.
Speaking to the Graphic Online, the Director of the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD), Assistant Commissioner of Police Mr Angwubotoge Awuni, said the police were to engage in various meetings with the stakeholders before a new date would be fixed for the implementation.
�We are going to have a meeting with the various stakeholders, including the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Finance, the Attorney General�s Department and transport unions, after which a date will be fixed for the piloting,� he said.
He said the suspension was also due to concerns raised by motorists and stakeholders on the need to educate drivers, who were the mainstream victims, before implementation.
The MTTD announced the implementation of the spot fine system for minor traffic offences in April to take effect from this month.
The introduction of the spot fine is in line with Regulation 157 of Legislative Instrument (LI) 2180 passed by Parliament in 2012, which states: �A person who commits a road traffic offence specified in the Seventh Schedule is liable to pay a spot fine.�
The spot fine will cover minor traffic offences such as driving a vehicle without reflectors, non-conformity with restrictions on horns and sirens, driving by underage persons, using a communication device while driving and using a motorcycle or tricycle for commercial passenger services.
Also failure to renew driving licence, driving on the shoulders of the road, failure to use seatbelt, among similar offences, will fall within the spot fine system.
The use of the spot fine system is intended to quicken the administration of justice for minor traffic offenders and also help increase compliance with road traffic regulations and reduce indisciplined acts by drivers.
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