The National Road Safety Authority is set to deploy advanced technology on major roads across the country to automatically detect traffic offences as part of efforts to curb growing road indiscipline.
The move forms part of broader government efforts to improve road safety and reduce the rising number of road crashes and fatalities.
During a visit to the Authority, the Minister for Transport, Joseph Nikpe Bukari, explained that the initiative will introduce digital monitoring systems to assist law enforcement agencies in identifying offenders and ensuring prompt sanctions.
“All the indications are that the Ghana Police Service, with the National Road Safety Authority, will start a serious training and education on how this technology is going to be deployed. This technology will be deployed to help the police with an invisible eye.
“As human as we are, when they are on the road, they will not be able to see everything. But having vehicles with automated cameras and motorbikes, and some fixed permanently on our roads, they will be able to detect any crime that is committed on our roads,” he said.
He noted that the use of technology would help regulate driver behaviour and improve compliance with road traffic regulations.
“We believe that it will be able to regulate how you interact daily with respect to other road users. We have to bring down the kind of fatalities that we record on a yearly basis on our roads. And one of the things to do to reduce this carnage on our roads is to use technology to assist our police in bringing discipline to our roads,” the Minister added.
Mr. Bukari also indicated that key agencies, including the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority, are collaborating with the transport ministry to implement the system.
He said the initiative aligns with the broader vision of President John Dramani Mahama to restore sanity on the country’s roads and reduce accident-related deaths.
Meanwhile, the Director in Charge of Education, Research and Training at the Motor Traffic and Transport Department, Chief Superintendent Alexander Kwaku Obeng, disclosed that the technology will be capable of detecting dozens of traffic offences.
“I think at the presentation we said that there are about 46 offenses or behaviours that the law has set aside for us to build our digital capacity to gather real-time digital evidence so that we can interact with the offender,” he said.
He explained that the system will capture offences such as speeding, running red lights, and other violations detected through roadside cameras and handheld devices used by officers.
“And I mentioned some are speed, speeding behaviour. So when you move above the stipulated speed limits, it will capture you. The red light cameras will capture you. The PDAs also have the capacity to capture offences on the face of the license, insurance, roadworthy, and other roadside behaviours that most people don’t like,” Chief Superintendent Obeng added.
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