The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority, DVLA taskforce in collaboration with the Motor Traffic and Transport Department of the Ghana Police has clamped down on dishonest car owners using fake license, roadworthy, foreign license and drivers of embellished vehicle number plates around the East Legion area in Accra yesterday, Wednesday, July 20, 2021.
About 40 vehicles have been impounded for using fake registration, numbers, embellished number plates, tinted windscreens, fake license, and foreign license in a joint exercise by officials of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) and the Motor Transport and Traffic Directorate (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service.
Some 20 suspects’ license and particulars have been retained for them to go and do the right thing while of them will be prosecuted in a law court.
The task force also intercepted vehicles with expired and fake roadworthy stickers embossed on their vehicles.
The Deputy Director of Driver Training Testing of the DVLA, Mr. Joseph Clifford Obosu, who disclosed this to the Tema base radio station, Plan-B fm in Accra, Wednesday, said the action followed reports that some vehicle owners and drivers were flouting the law which is against the traffic regulations.
According to him, the use of stylish or embellished number plates is illegal. He said what most motorists do not know is that even though their vehicles belongs to them, they do not have authority over the number plates adding that the number plates are for the state.
“It is unlawful that these plates should be tampered with. The embossment of wrong insignia, use of other nations’ flags in place of the Ghana Flag, italicized lettering on the number plate, and use of colors that are different from what is prescribed by Law; and the embellishment of number plates with different colors are all against the laws of the country.”
Mr. Obosu said his outfit had taken notice of vehicle owners who always flout laid -down procedures with some of them converting a vehicle from private use to commercial and vice versa by circumventing the process thereby depriving the government from the generating revenue,” Mr. Obsu remarked.
Explaining what is involved in the aforementioned procedures, Mr. Obosu pointed out that for one to convert a private vehicle into commercial use, the owner has to notify the DVLA for the documents covering the vehicles including the number plate for it to be changed for the said purpose.
He said private vehicles had been impounded for not complying with the procedure in the conversion process.
He said that, when done deprives the state of revenue which could come in as a result of the registration process and urge motorists to desist from such practice.
“The right thing to be done was for the owners of the vehicles to notify the DVLA of the conversion so that we can facilitate the changing of the documents,” he said.
He explained that in such conversions, every document covering the vehicle have to be looked at to ascertain if they matched the chassis numbers and other features on the vehicle.
He said sometimes information embossed on the vehicles, in terms of the addresses are not correct, thereby posing problem for occupants in times of unforeseen circumstances such as accidents.
Mr. Obosu also warned vehicle owners to avoid using tinted front windscreens. He said it is against the regulations of the state and mentioned that ‘a person shall not drive a motor vehicle with tinted front windscreen.
He continued that per the laws of this country, a person may drive a motor vehicle which has a glass other than the windscreen and glass transmittance of at least 70% to allow occupant to see and be seen.
He further explained that the exercise was embarked to check and address all illegalities on our roads in the enforcement of the traffic regulations.
Any driver found culpable, according to him, will face the full rigors of the Law.
Discussion about this post