Chief Executive Officer of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), Julius Neequaye Kotey, reported that roughly five percent of the vehicle license plates currently in use around the country are fake. During an interview with TV3 on Sunday, January 25, Mr. Kotey said that the situation underlines the urgent need to concentrate license plate embossing under one registered company so as to enhance security and protect drivers.
He argued that because license plates are security documents, they ought not be produced haphazardly.
It will enhance the Ghanaian consumer’s security. No one, anywhere can emboss number plates. Given that the number plate you are imprinting is a security document, he said, we should be wary and prudent regarding who embosses number plates and for whom.
Mr. Kotey claims that DVLA data shows that approximately 5% of the cars detected by the system were using counterfeit license plates obtained by various illicit means.
He claimed that some offenders exploit accident cars that cannot be repaired by duplicating their license plates and embossing duplicate plates.
They use several approaches to get the license plates. Every now they pass past police stations. They look at the numbers for cars damaged in unrepairable accidents and then emboss them. They also explore farming areas where the equipment doesn’t go back to the roads and engraves their plates. Others, he says, copy customs documentation and apply the same vehicle numbers on goods not subject to duty.
The arrival of new DVLA license plates embedded with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips, according to Mr. Kotey, will help to reduce the threat.
All of this will be gone from us. Because the system includes a cloning detector. Several routes will see installation of RFID billboards. A message is sent to our command center if you pass with a number not in our system.
Plans call for a new toll booth. We need number plates with RFID chips if we are to connect to the upcoming toll system. Right now, we are speaking with the Ghana Highway Authority.
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