The National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) has warned that vehicles abandoned on roads after breakdowns or crashes could be towed and eventually auctioned under new road traffic regulations.
The new rules require vehicle owners to subscribe to a towing service or obtain an insurance policy that includes towing cover.
The Director of Registration, Inspection and Compliance at the NRSA, Kwame Koduah Attuahene, said motorists whose vehicles break down must arrange for immediate towing at their own cost.
“Once your vehicle breaks down, the law now requires that you immediately have it towed,” he said.
He explained that the new regulations remove the previous 30-minute or one-hour grace period for motorists to remove disabled vehicles from the road.
Mr Attuahene was speaking at a national sensitisation programme on the Road Traffic (Amendment) Act, 2025 (Act 1153) and the Road Traffic Regulations, 2026 (L.I. 2519).
Seven-day storage period
Under the regulations, motorists whose vehicles become disabled must place an advance warning triangle and notify their towing service provider.
The towing company is required to notify the police or NRSA and arrange for the vehicle to be moved to a storage facility.
Vehicles taken to storage will initially be kept for up to seven days, during which owners are expected to reclaim them.
Mr Attuahene said failure to do so could eventually lead to a judicial auction.
“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,” he said.
The NRSA said the measures are intended to prevent broken-down and crashed vehicles from remaining on roads and creating additional hazards for other road users.
Mr Attuahene urged vehicle owners to comply with the requirement to have either a towing service subscription or insurance policy with towing cover.
