Pardon me for taking so long to get back on this one.
- The Road Traffic Act provides that a person driving on a road has to produce their licence for examination if a police officer asks them to.
- The law does not say exactly what it means to produce the licence, and it could mean a certain number of things. I believe the best view to take of this is, a person cannot claim to have produced their licence if they merely hold it up from a distance or provide a photocopy.
- The law also gives up to 24 hours to produce the licence.
- If a person suspects that a police officer will take the licence in order to extort money, well, they can produce it within 24 hours at the officer's police station. I believe you can insist politely that you would like to produce your licence at a police station (if it is convenient for you).
- Please note that refusal or failure to produce your licence can be punished by conviction and a fine of up to GHS 600 or 1 year's imprisonment or both the fine and the prison term.
Upon requesting that you would like to produce your license at a latter period, within the 24 hour limit, are you under any obligation to accompany the officer to the station and/ or to be charged for not having your license? What I mean is, I have been asked a couple of times to leave my car at the station until I can produce my license. Is that legal? What should I do in a situation like that?
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