Here is why National Road Safety Authority Declares the Use of Voxy for commercial purposes illegal

The National Road Safety Authority has disclosed that, henceforth, Voxy cars should not be used for commercial purposes, stating that it is illegal and that anyone caught doing so would be dealt with.

The decision by the NRSA comes following the rate at which the said cars cause accidents has escalated to an extremely worrisome level.

Chairman, Godwin Kafui Ayetor, speaking at the committee’s final report in Accra on Wednesday, April 8 noted that the use of Voxy cars for commercial purposes is claiming numerous lives, hence, the decision.

According to him, “The manufacturer informed us that the Toyota Voxy is a minivan designed for young middle-class families, not for commercial passenger use. In other words, it is not designed for high mileage and is intended for use on paved roads”.

He went on to state that “Once off-road conditions come into play, the recommendation is to use vehicles such as the Toyota Hiace, which are specifically built for commercial applications”.

The chairman believes that “As part of the conversion, the suspension is altered and the vehicle is raised. The tyres are also changed. However, the tyres that come with the Toyota Voxy are passenger tyres, not designed for high payload or high mileage”, adding that “We observed a systemic regulatory breakdown, which has led to the proliferation of these conversions. These vehicles are often unlawfully imported, improperly converted, and operated as commercial transport, posing serious safety risks”.

He revealed that “We have allowed thousands of unlawfully imported vehicles to enter the country, be modified without standards by uncertified practitioners, registered without proper testing and inspection, and operated commercially despite private registration in some cases”.

The chairman concluded his speech with “In our final determination, the Technical Working Group concludes that the Toyota Voxy vehicle, as currently configured through unregulated right-hand drive to left-hand drive conversion and deployed for commercial passenger transport beyond its design specifications, presents an unacceptable risk to road safety in Ghana.”