We impound 30-40 vehicles daily – Adamawa chief VIO

The Adamawa State Vehicle Inspection Unit says its operatives impound between 30 and 40 cars and commercial tricycles every day.

The state Chief Vehicle Inspection Officer, VIO, Mr Joseph Tumba who stated this during an exclusive press interview with Newspot in the state capital, Yola, said the arrests are mainly due to bad condition of vehicles and expired documents or complete lack of documents.

“We impound 30-40 motor vehicles and tricycles every working day. In the process, we recover stolen vehicles,” Mr Tumba said.

He said motorists often think that VIOs waste their time when they stop motorists for inspection, but that motorists gain directly when inspectors detect vehicles that are not roadworthy and when the process ensures the return of stolen vehicles to their owners.

He highlighted certain troubles that his men and officials get from road users.

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He spoke of people who cover their number plates, those who use one number plate for multiple cars, impatient motorists who see inspection officers as time wasters, and drivers who feel that they should be exempted from inspection.

“People drive up to us, their number plates covered with or wrapped in cloth or paper sack. This is against the law which says your plate number should be visible 25 metres away.

“And nobody has ever been able to satisfactorily tell us why they hide their vehicle number this way,” he said.

“Another big challenge is that somebody will have one number plate and use it for five to six vehicles. He will be transferring one number plate from one car to the next, whereas every registration number belongs to a certain vehicle and not any other,” he added.

The chief VIO asserted that a large number of people do not even subscribe to being checked for anything, saying, “You stop a vehicle, the driver tells you I am so or so, or this car belongs to this or that person. What does it mean? Is this person higher than the law? Is there any person who is not under an authority?”

He said the Adamawa State VIO unit was working despite the challenges, but that the office which has 86 personnel operating from the Yola head office and operational stations in Mubi, Michika, Gombi, Ganye and Numan, lacked operational vehicles.