All drivers who are members of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) will be obliged to sign up for an obligatory car towing system starting in October of this year in order to have their disabled vehicles promptly removed from the road.
Drivers can sign up for an online application that has been created to efficiently supply the service under the new towing system, which is being implemented by the GPRTU in collaboration with the private company Road Safety Management Service Limited (RSMSL).
Depending on the type of vehicle, owners are required to pay annual subscription fees under the terms of the contract between the GPRTU and the RSMSL.
According to the payment schedule, GH 50 would be charged for taxis, GH 80 for trotros, GH 300 for large buses, and GH 500 for articulated vehicles.
Godfred Abulbire, the General Secretary of the GPRTU, told the Daily Graphic last Wednesday that the program would be officially launched today when the contract for the towing service was signed on August 1st, 2022.
He stated that the idea would be launched in October after an incubation phase between August and the end of September.
“We will sensitize people throughout this incubation time so that they would start to connect to the system,” he said.
According to Mr. Abulbire, the RSMSL had brought in over 250 towing trucks with the goal of providing at least one towing center for each region.
The submission
He explained that the RSMSL-developed program will enable drivers to sign up for the system by downloading the app, filling out their personal information, the kind and color of their car, and the location or branch they belonged to.
You must now send the receipt you will be given to your union chairman in order to get a card that will serve as your identification or authorization to use the towing service.
The GPRTU Secretary claimed that arrangements had been made for those who owned ten or more vehicles to receive a discount of up to 5%.
In order to take quick action, he continued, the new towing regime included a successful reporting system that allowed drivers, passengers, and bystanders to record incidences of broken-down vehicles.
For the public who report accidents to the RSMSL, he stated, “there is a reward system for timely action.”
Capacity
When asked if the GPRTU could enforce the required vehicle towing service, he responded that the union was in a good position to do so.
According to Mr. Abulbire, the GPRTU controls over 85% of the private transportation market, making it the largest transport provider.
The union, he said, had 2,100 chapters spread out across the nation, with more than 2.6 million cars and 3 million drivers.
According to the GPRTU secretary, the union would use its sway in the transportation industry to guarantee that the towing levy is upheld.
When the program was completely implemented, he claimed, any driver lacking a vehicle towing identity card would not be permitted to load at any GPRTU port.
Every member of the union will be required to connect to it when we start since we do not want to make it voluntary.
Self-regulation
According to Mr. Abulbire, the NRSA has given guidelines under its new laws requiring all loading terminals or unions to train their drivers as part of efforts to reduce traffic accidents.
In keeping with that direction, he claimed, the GPRTU saw car towing as a novel method of self-policing to make sure that drivers working for the union did not jeopardize the lives of passengers and bystanders.
