On November 1, 2026, a new automated traffic-control system, TraffiTech-GH, became operational in Ghana.
This system, by the Ghana Police, will be managed by the MTTD. With TraffiTech, physical monitoring by the police will be replaced eventually, by an automated network.
True to the Ghanaian nature, while some drivers humorously said they never checked how fast their speedometers read until November 1, 2026, others angrily said the government should have fixed all roads and installed proper markings/signage before implementing TraffiTech!
For some, a system from a country where things work (Sweden) is being imposed on Ghana, which lacks the infrastructure for it. Indeed, some argued rather glibly that TraffiTech is for income-generation. Others describe TraffiTech as “illegal.”
Incidentally, RTAs have been a topic I have written a lot on since my first in 2017, titled “Motorway Kamikaze?”
My most recent, in December 2025, titled “RTA Epidemic?” is quoted below.
Knowing the road traffic indiscipline on our roads, before driving out of the house each morning, I pray for patience.
Yet within minutes of leaving home, my patience gets sorely tested.
On two occasions last week, I had to dig deep into the Defensive-Driving Skills Automobile-Association (AA) taught me in 1974 to avert near crashes.
Data from the National Road Safety Authority and the MTTD show about a 20 per cent increase in RTAs in 2025 from 2024.
Provisional figures for mid-December 2025 are: total crashes — approximately 13,000; fatalities (deaths) —approximately 2,600; injuries — approximately 13,000.
This alarming situation took me back to my most recent article on RTAs titled “Bad Roads, Reckless Driving and RTAs”, published in May 2025. Part read:
In the first week of May 2025, two friends who travelled from Accra to Kumasi shared their experiences with me. Driving his SUV, the first said it took him seven hours to Kumasi. The return trip the following day took the same time.
When I asked why it took him so long in his strong/solid SUV, he replied, “The road is terrible, and people drive dangerously/recklessly/lawlessly.
Indeed, it was/is like the jungle law of survival not only of the fittest, but the unscrupulous as well!”
The second went by “VIP-Transport” bus to Kumasi. It took eight hours.
He stated that the driver drove carefully/sensibly to the annoyance of three young men who kept goading/harassing him to drive faster.
Their reason?
They were graduating at 4 pm that day at KNUST and therefore wanted the driver to speed so they would not be late for the ceremony!
Road Traffic Accidents
Earlier, on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, an RTA at Amanase on the Accra-Kumasi Highway, an accident involving a fuel tanker and a Sprinter bus left 11 dead and many critically injured.
May 1, 2025 started with an RTA at Yeji, Bono-East, on the Kumasi-Tamale Highway. 8 persons were killed, with 11 in critical condition.
I asked myself: what has changed since my 2017 article on RTAs titled “Motorway Kamikaze Driving?” Parts read:
Towards the end of World War 2 in 1945, Japan resorted to desperate measures as the end appeared to be in sight for them.
They trained pilots in the Japanese Air Force for suicide missions of crashing their planes loaded with explosives on any Allied targets they saw, especially warships.
They were the equivalent of today’s suicide bombers.
Today, such is the fury and ferocity of driving on the Accra-Tema Motorway! Unfortunately, this dangerous driving appears to be only the tip of the iceberg of dangerous driving in Ghana.
As for the commercial motorbike riders called okada, weaving through traffic dangerously without helmets, and going through red lights with impunity appears to be their stock in trade.
Indiscipline
Many years ago, I took my driving test in a car with the Manual/Stick-shift gears. Before then, my driving instructor told me that, “If you do not drive in the correct gears, the vehicle will drive you by stalling on you and stopping.”
I was also taught Defensive Driving and Road Courtesy.
Today, modern technology has replaced manual gear vehicles with automatic transmissions.
This has reduced driving to speeding hard and then jamming on the brakes for an instant stop!
Unfortunately, driving automatic vehicles demands very little thinking!
So drivers can afford to drive with one hand, while making a mobile phone call with the other.
Indeed, some accidents may have resulted in loss of life because drivers were distracted by using their phones while driving.
Elsewhere, driving offences are punishable by an increase in insurance premium for the offender.
Where it persists, the offending driver has his driving licence revoked. Indeed, at the time of writing on Tuesday, December 13, 2016, BBC announced the imposition of an eighty thousand-dollar fine on Ivorian football star Yahaya Toure for driving under the influence of alcohol.
Additionally, he was banned from driving for eighteen months.
Again, very fast buses meant for ambulances in advanced countries, upon decommissioning, are imported into Ghana, and metal seats are welded in them to play the role of passenger vehicles! In the event of an accident, the welded metals do the killing of innocent passengers.
DVLA, why do you register decommissioned ambulances brought to Ghana as passenger vehicles?
Conclusion
A combination of reckless driving, poorly maintained vehicles and bad roads makes driving very unsafe in Ghana. Ghana Police Service, why are vehicles with DP and DV plates speeding about so confidently? Finally, the government must provide good/safe roads
Summary
In my 2024 article titled “I am scared of my own driving,” I stated as follows.
“The mid-year report published by the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) stated that between January to June 2024, there were 6653 accidents reported mainly attributable to driver indiscipline. There were 8798 casualties comprising 1237 deaths and 7561 injuries.
In August 2021, two MPs were involved in road-traffic accidents Showing no sympathy whatsoever, some Ghanaians angrily stated, rather uncharitably, that it was a travesty of justice that the officials had survived, considering how little those in authority cared about the thousands of Ghanaians who die annually in RTAs.
No wonder Ghanaians are disappointed with uncaring authorities! Remember John Dryden’s quote, “Beware the fury of a patient man!”
Discussion
While “DV” number plates stand for “Defective Vehicle,” “DP” stands for “Drive-from-Port.” They are meant for temporary use only. So, how come they are a permanent feature at weddings these days? Again, why do they speed and overtake every vehicle in sight?
Initially, I disagreed with my AA driving instructor in 1974 in Canada when he told us, “Drive with the notion that you are the only sensible driver on the road. Assume every other driver is stupid!
Therefore, you must not only think for yourself, but also think for them.”
It did not take me long to fully agree with him.
Indeed, if we all drove with common sense, there would be fewer accidents!
Need I say more?
Like any new venture, TraffiTech has not been readily accepted by everybody.
However, it is for the common good of our collective safety by reducing RTAs.
As a panellist said on radio/TV, we must avoid throwing away the baby and the bathtub by excessive legalese and glib academic arguments.
Any Ghanaian who has lost a relative in an RTA will not dismiss TraffiTech.
It is new, and not perfect!!
Leadership, lead by example/integrity! Fellow Ghanaians, wake up!
The writer is a former CEO, African Peace Support Trainers Association, Nairobi, Kenya; Council Chairman, Family Health University, Teshie, Accra. E-mail:
