Unattended and broken-down vehicles left on roads face being impounded and sold off under a major overhaul of traffic laws announced by the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA).
Under the updated framework, motorists will be legally required to hold either a towing service subscription or a motoring insurance policy that covers breakdown recovery, ensuring disabled vehicles are cleared without delay.
Failure to comply could result in compulsory recovery, with vehicle owners forced to foot the bill.
“The law is that every vehicle owner will be required to subscribe to a towing service company or buy an insurance policy that has a towing service tied to it,” said Kwame Koduah Attuahene, Director of Registration, Inspection, and Compliance at the NRSA.
The new rules scrap former grace periods that permitted drivers to leave stationary vehicles at the roadside for up to an hour following a collision or mechanical failure.
“Once your vehicle breaks down, the law now requires that immediately you must have it towed. In the old law, it gave you a 30-minute or one-hour grace period, but now the law is that as soon as you break down, you must have your vehicle towed,” Mr Attuahene said.
Drivers who suffer a breakdown are now mandated to deploy an advance warning triangle immediately and alert their recovery provider. Towing operators must then inform the police or the NRSA before transferring the vehicle to a designated impound facility.
Owners will have a seven-day window to retrieve their impounded vehicles before legal proceedings for a court-ordered auction begin.
“After 21 days, you will be auctioned. You have seven days’ notice before the sale. And where the sale is unsuccessful, the state will confiscate the vehicle and possibly scrap it,” Mr Attuahene warned.
The stringent rules—introduced under the Road Traffic (Amendment) Act, 2025 (Act 1153) and the Road Traffic Regulations, 2026 (L.I. 2519)—are aimed at eliminating roadside hazards and reducing secondary collisions.
“All of this is to ensure that we comply with the basic rule, which is that you must either subscribe or get a policy,” Mr Attuahene added.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
