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The Driver and Vehicle License Authority (DVLA) has urged policy makers to check second-hand vehicles and spare parts that are imported into the country. It said most imported vehicles, especially the commercial ones, and spare parts were accident vehicles that had been completely destroyed and beyond safety. In an interview, the Deputy Director of Vehicle Inspection and Registration of the DVLA, Alhaji Iddrisu Huseini, told the Daily Graphic that most road accidents occurred because of the accident vehicles and spare parts that were imported and highly patronised by car owners and drivers. The situation There are lots of rickety commercial vehicles in the country with most of them being overused. A lot of accident cars have been imported into the country. Some of the vehicles are mainly second-hand minibuses and vans that have been changed into passenger vehicles, with crude seats and often without enough leg room. Other vehicles also have exposed metals that often tear the clothes of passengers and/or injure them, with the attendant danger of tetanus infections. Sometimes during rainfall, commuters get wet while in the vehicles because of the holes that have developed on the roofs. Some also have spoilt doors which expose passengers to the dangers of falling off from the vehicles. DVLA intensifies efforts According to Alhaji Huseini, the DVLA will collaborate with the Motor Traffic and Transport Department of the Ghana Police Service to intensify its efforts to ensure that the number of rickety vehicles on the road are reduced. However, he said, it was necessary for policy makers to check the importation of accident vehicles and spare parts into the country. For instance, he said car tyres which had been used for more than four years (from the date of manufacture) were not to be used, but the reverse was the case in the country. He urged car owners and drivers to make the safety of commuters a priority by properly and regularly maintaining their vehicles.