‘Fine or jail for talking on mobile phone while driving’ -Buba Amara

By Abdul Hassan Fackie

The Director of Safety and Enforcement at the Sierra Leone Road Transport Authority (SLRTA), has said that very soon they will start arresting and levying heavy fines or sending to jail any driver caught talking on a mobile phone while driving or riding a motor cycle.

Formally launching the Road Traffic Regulations 2011 yesterday at the Authority’s conference hall at Kissy Road in Freetown, Mr. Buba Amara said he was very happy that the Act has become law because the Road Traffic Act 2007 lacked teeth to bite hard on traffic offenders.

Mr. Amara also explained that this law will adequately address the traffic situation in the country, and appealed to stakeholders to help in its implementation.

He also said that the new law will also arrest those drivers or riders caught smoking or drinking alcohol or other intoxicating substances while driving or riding.

He called for Government support and frowned on interference from politicians and people in positions of power.

In his contribution, the representative for the Motor Drivers and General Transport Workers Union, Mr. Kombo Koroma, appealed to the Authority to clearly put the road signs in the designated areas so that the drivers, bike riders and pedestrians will be adequately aware of the rules governing their movement.

He condemned street trading as it is an obstruction to the free movement of vehicles and human beings.

In his statement, the Western Area Traffic Police Coordinator, Superintendent of Police, Ambrose Sovula said they will fully implement the law to make sure that the streets and roads experience sanity and accidents are minimized.

Present at the meeting were stakeholders in the traffic industry including the Motor Drivers and General Transport Workers Union (MDGTWU), the Indigenous Transport Owners Association (ITOA), the Bike Riders Association, the Passenger Welfare Association, the Consumer Welfare Association, the Traffic Wardens and the Traffic Police.

symbols to women candidates in the district and also incorporate the Kailahun women manifesto into their party manifestoes.

She also stated that they want the electorate to vote massively for women symbol holders and political parties whose manifesto demonstrate commitment to pursuing programmes for gender equality as mainstreaming women’s needs.

She disclosed that their organisation is an umbrella organisation of about one hundred groups with a membership of five thousand three hundred across the fourteen chiefdoms in the district.

She concluded that their manifesto represents the voice of all the women in the district as it promotes their unity and overall empowerment.