RAYMOND OZOJI reports
Reappointed Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Anambra State Road Traffic Management Agency (ARTMA) Engr. Okonkwo Emeka Konti, has assured Ndi-Anambra that the era of motorists and ARTMA enforcement officials having faceoff over traffic offenses is over as the agency plans to introduce a digital system which will guarantee sanity on the roads.
Speaking exclusively with this journalist in his office in Awka, Okonkwo stated that ARTMA will amongst other things in the pipeline launch a digital system whereby cameras would be installed at strategic locations across the state such that whenever a motorist beat the red light of the traffic the cameras will capture the offender and a text message will immediately be sent directly to the offender's mobile phone regarding the fine to be paid for the traffic offense.
He explained that the aforesaid innovation when implemented will reduce the frictions between traffic enforcement officers and the offenders, adding that the era of motorists claiming that ARTMA officials jumped into their vehicles and began to act like thugs is over.
The ARTMA MD stated that the system will reduce the presence of traffic enforcement officers on the road and also enthrone sanity and orderliness amongst road users.
Okonkwo who said that while the agency prepares to install the cameras in no distant time, it will also train and retrain its officers on how to conduct themselves properly when impounding vehicles for traffic offenses.
He however observed that because Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo has dualised roads in Anambra State, motorists now seemed to be impatient in using u-turns instead they would rather prefer to drive against traffic which is popularly known as one-way.
As a result,, he mentioned that the agency has decided not to collect cash anymore from motorists who were apprehended for one-way offenses but the agency, according to him, would impound such vehicle for three months and the vehicle would be at the ARTMA base for that three months period after which it would be released to the owner free of charge and without any option of fine.
He also disclosed that as part of efforts to rebrand ARTMA, the agency has fished out ghost workers amongst its workforce and also clamping down on impersonators of its enforcement officers, stressing that a new ARTMA will emerge this time because the organization is set to enthrone a culture of self-discipline and orderliness on Anambra roads especially as it concerns respect for traffic lights and obedience to traffic rules and regulations.
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