The Ghana Private Roads and Transport Union (GPRTU) has been advised to make it a priority to ensure that any vehicle that leaves its terminal has an active insurance and the driver also with a valid driving license.
Western Region Director of the National Insurance Commission Justice Agyei Peprah is confident such checks will guarantee that in the unfortunate instance of an accident, victims do not struggle to get the required compensation.
“Each passing day, hundreds – if not thousands – of people travel either to work or vacation. One major transport operator that aids this is GPRTU. So imagine if before a car leaves any terminal or lorry park the managers of the place check for validity of insurance cover and license. That, without an active insurance cover or valid license you don’t move. It will compel many to do the right thing.”
He continued: “Once such thorough checks are conducted and the right action taken, both the passenger and driver can be rest assured that in the unfortunate event of an accident all the victims will have the due compensation.”
The Western Region Director of the National Insurance Commission is worried that despite continuous education a good number of vehicles ply the road without an active insurance cover.
According to him, the risk associated with driving without an active insurance cover is far – reaching.
Speaking after a three-day road enforcement exercise in Tarkwa in the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipal Assembly, Mr. Agyei Peprah was worried that a good number of vehicles checked are without active insurance cover.
He stated that in some instances, some vehicles were with their new insurance stickers but checks revealed they were fake.
“It will interest you to know that some people have been able to do our new stickers. The good thing, however, is that, it is impossible to get to our system with such fake stickers. There is a short code we use to check for the authenticity of the sticker. And once it is fake the system will reject it. So if you want to validate it just dial *920*57# then you wait after which you key in your vehicle number.”
He also asked passengers to check whether the vehicle they board have an active insurance cover before they board.
“It is also of utmost importance for passengers to check whether the insurance is active before they embark on any form of journey on any vehicle whether old or new.”
The enforcement exercise, in collaboration with Police MTTD, was to check whether vehicles have the Third Party insurance cover.