The Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana police service in collaboration with the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) has held a stakeholder engagement on the implementation of Traffitech-Gh Law Enforcement Practice technology in Tamale.
The technology is an automated system developed by the Ghana police service to enforce road traffic laws and regulations to improve road safety in Ghana.
The system uses cameras and sensors to automatically take a picture or video of vehicles that flout road traffic laws and regulations such as speeding and jumping of redlight.
Project Coordinator of Traffitech at the Ghana Police Service, MTTD, Chief Superintendent Alexander Kwaku Obeng who presented an over view in Tamale said the police will deploy traffic enforcement camera technology to detect and apprehend traffic law offenders and impose appropriate automated fines with the aim of increasing deterrence and compliance with road traffic laws and regulations to enhance public safety in Ghana.
Traffic offenses, he explained will be sent to the owners of vehicles within 14 days and they are expected to respond.
According to him, there will be a camera station at vantage points capturing live happiness on the road and transmitting the same to the monitoring room while others will be on top of a moving car on the highway.
He noted that vehicle owners traffic crimes will now be sent to them in a form of text message with a special pin code where vehicle owners can trace to verify the offense video and therefore expected to always notify DVLA if they made changes either their phone numbers or the Vehicles to avoid receiving a wrong text message.
He warned that after 14 days of refusing to pay a fine, the vehicle may seize to operate on the road because both DVLA and Insurance companies will not renew its documents.
Targeted areas of consideration of traffitech technology Chief Superintendent Obeng mentioned included N1, N6, N11, N12, N8 and N9 as well as certain junctions in Ghana which are hazardous. He revealed that, this year alone, over 100,000 committed road traffic offenses, 11 sent to jail 900 injured and over 1000 people killed between January and October.
Northern Regional Manager of DVLA, Murtala Mutawakil Abdulai, said a lot of changes have been made since 2017 in the use of technology in acquiring driving licenses and assured of their full support to traffitech.
According to the National Road Safety Authority, for the past 18 months there has been systematic reduction of road accidents in the country, but speeding is still a problem on the road, contributing to 62% of road crashes.
