AAs many as 223 drivers were arrested and prosecuted by the Police Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) in Kumasi between January and March this year.
Out of the number, 203 were found guilty and convicted for flouting various road traffic regulations .
The convicted drivers were sentenced to pay a total of GH¢36,000.00 after pleading guilty to charges preferred against them when they appeared before court.
During the same period, 22 out of 23 pedestrians who were knocked down by vehicles in the Kumasi Metropolis lost their lives .
Those who died included an eight -month- old baby girl who was knocked down, together with her mother on February 25, 2010, when the mother was crossing the road around Bantama in Kumasi.
The mother survived the accident, but the baby girl died on the spot when her head hit the ground.
The dead also included a 70 -year -old man who was killed on the spot on March 19, 2010 .
The Ashanti Regional MTTU Police Commander Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Abraham Bansah who briefed Daily Graphic about the incidents said drivers who killed pedestrians through knockdowns risked being convicted to serve seven years prison term when found guilty of reckless driving offences .
Explaining, he said, following the amendment of the road traffic act on reckless driving, any driver found guilty of killing a pedestrian through knockdown would spend seven years in jail without an option of a fine.
He said all dockets on drivers who killed pedestrians in the Kumasi Metropolis between January and March this year, had been forwarded to the Attorney- General’s Department for advice “ and as soon as we receive the dockets, we will start prosecuting them”.
ASP Bansah explained that it was when the MTTU realised that the spate of knockdowns were increasing in the Kumasi Metropolis that they intensified patrols and checks leading to the arrest of the 223 drivers who flouted various road traffic regulations.
He said during prosecution, drivers who were found guilty for flouting various road traffic regulations were convicted to pay fines that ranged between GH¢200 and GH¢300 depending on the gravity of their offences.
He said some of the offences were double parking, driving beyond the stipulated 30- kilometre per hour within residential areas in the Kumasi Metropolis, drunk driving, wrong over taking, driving on the shoulders of the road, driving through red lights at zebra crossings, using expired driving licences and road worthy certificates and failing to maintain vehicles, leading to accidents among others.
He said three out of the 223 drivers who flouted road traffic regulations were acquitted and discharged but 21 of the cases were still pending before the law courts, while two others were under investigations.
“ We are not relenting in our efforts to arrest and prosecute recalcitrant drivers as a way of bringing sanity onto the road to reduce the spate of knockdowns in the Kumasi Metropolis” he warned.
Mr Bansah advised drivers to undertake regular maintenance , especially on their brakes to enhance the safety of road users, including pedestrians .
He said it was equally important for drivers to respect the 30- kilometre per hour within residential areas and also avoid wrong overtaking in residential areas.
“Drivers who drive along the shoulders of the road, as well as those who drive through red lights would not be spared when arrested because they create insecurity on the road” he warned.
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