NRSC to ban use of second-hand tyres

The National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) is to begin the enforcement of the ban on the use of second-hand vehicle tyres in the country from September.

May Obiri-Yeboah, Executive Director of NRSC announced this during the Commission’s 2013 mid-year review in Kumasi and said the ban was necessary because such tyres increased the risk of road crashes occurrence by 30 per cent.

She therefore charged staff of the Commission to embark upon an education campaign to pave way for the ban.

About 75 per cent of vehicle or trailer tyres in the country are reported to be second-hand.

Road Traffic Regulation 62, sub-section (2) dictates: “A person shall not fit a tyre on a motor vehicle or a trailer, if the tyre is more than four years old, counting from the date of manufacture."

Rudolph Beckly, Chief Executive of the Driver, Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) who spoke on the theme 'Vehicle tyres and crash management in Ghana,' said poor knowledge on vehicle tyre maintenance and usage accounted for a number of road crashes.

He said new tyres were cost effective and advised vehicle owners to stop spending money on tyres that could cause their deaths.

Mr Beckly noted that about 85 per cent of vehicle owners in Ghana only checked the pressure of their tyres when the pressure is low instead of doing it daily.

He said the recommended vehicle tyres for the country were pneumatic tyres manufactured for use in hot and normal weather areas labelled temperature class A or B.

Mr Beckley said class 'C' tyres were not good and urged commercial drivers to desist from using them.

He indicated that the DVLA and NRSC and other stakeholders were putting measures in place to ensure that vendors provided detailed information on tyres they sold to the public.

Mr Beckley urged vehicle owners to stick to vehicle tyre specifications and patronize only trained vulcanisers to reduce road crashes.

Source: GNA/Ghana