The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) has revealed that more than 90% of tricycles, popularly known as aboboyaa, operating in Accra do not have side mirrors, raising concerns about their roadworthiness and compliance with basic safety standards.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Tuesday, July 22, 2026, DVLA representative Stephen Attu said observations by the Authority indicate that the vast majority of tricycles on the roads are operating without the mandatory safety feature.
“I can tell you based on observation that over 90% of them don’t even have mirrors,” he said, adding, “I wouldn’t dispute that.”
Despite the concern, Mr Attu stressed that tricycles are subject to the same roadworthiness inspections as other vehicles and must meet minimum safety requirements before they are allowed to operate on public roads.
He explained that DVLA technical officers inspect tricycles to ensure they have essential safety features, including functional headlamps and roadworthy tyres.
“They equally need to have headlamps; they equally need to have good tyres under them. They must be in pristine condition to be able to function on our roads,” he stated.
Mr Attu said the DVLA carries out compliance exercises but works jointly with the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service whenever enforcement actions or arrests are required.
“What we do is that in order to be able to cause an arrest, you have to do that in collaboration with the MTTD,” he explained.
He also acknowledged that monitoring compliance among motorcycles and tricycles remains challenging because many of them were registered manually under the previous registration system.
According to him, the DVLA is implementing reforms to improve vehicle monitoring and road safety enforcement, including a new registration system and the introduction of smart number plates embedded with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology.
He said the new measures are expected to strengthen the Authority’s ability to track vehicles, improve compliance monitoring and enhance road safety enforcement across the country.
