The Ghana Police Service has deployed officers and cameras across the country as the TraffiTech-GH digital traffic enforcement system begins operating on Sunday, November 1.
The system is designed to detect traffic violations, particularly speeding, and send electronic notices to vehicle owners. Cameras mounted in police vehicles and on tripods will capture suspected offences. The Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) will review the footage before issuing notices by text message.
The messages will identify the sender as GPS and include the vehicle’s registration number, the time and location of the alleged offence, details of the relevant traffic regulation and a link to video evidence.
according to ACP Alexander Kwaku Obeng, the MTTD’s Director of Education, Research and Training,the police had completed the deployment and expected drivers to follow speed limits.
“Anybody who ignores the warning and thinks that the road is straight and flat and thinks that police are not there, I want to say we are there. We are there; our vehicles are embedded with the cameras,” he said.
The prescribed limits are 50 kilometres per hour in built-up areas, 90 kilometres per hour on highways and 100 kilometres per hour on motorways. ACP Obeng said speeding contributes to about 60 per cent of road deaths and serious injuries, and urged drivers to moderate their speed.
He said the MTTD issued more than 70,000 caution notices between September 10 and October 31 to prepare motorists for the system. The department has now moved from warnings to enforcement.
“Now we are not in the caution notice mode but we are in deterrent mode,” ACP Obeng said, referring to Regulation 242 on automated road traffic offences and fines.
After a suspected offence is recorded, the MTTD will process the evidence and send a notice to the vehicle’s registered owner. Vehicle owners will have two weeks from receiving the notice to pay the applicable fine.
The launch comes amid threats by commercial transport operators to suspend services nationwide from November 1 in protest against the system’s implementation.
