The Ghana Police Service will begin nationwide digital traffic enforcement on October 1, 2026, deploying a new camera-based system called Traffitech that officials say will automate the detection of traffic offences and reduce human interference in enforcement.
Test operations will commence on September 14, giving authorities a roughly two-week window to trial the system before the full rollout. The announcement was made at a national sensitisation programme on the Road Traffic (Amendment) Act, 2025 (Act 1153) and the Road Traffic Regulations, 2026 (L.I. 2519).
How Traffitech works
Chief Superintendent Alexander Kwaku Obeng, Director of Education, Research and Training at the Police Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD), said Traffitech will use cameras mounted at strategic points on roads to provide real-time identification of vehicles and their registered owners.
“We have made smart investments; we will not have to go to court manually, take people to the police station and all that. Instead, on the road, we will deploy cameras that will give us a real-time feed of who owns the vehicle,” he said.
Once a violation is detected, the system will identify the licence holder linked to the vehicle and issue an electronic notice of violation within 14 days, in accordance with the Tenth Schedule of the Road Traffic Regulations. The notice can be issued by a police officer or an authorised agent in the prescribed form.
The system has been in development for several years. Sensys Gatso Group, a global traffic safety technology provider, announced that its joint venture Nationwide Traffic Management & Enforcement Ltd (NTMEL) will support the launch under an eleven-year contract signed in December 2022.
47 offences covered
Interior Minister Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak has said Traffitech will cover more than 47 offences, ranging from speeding, reckless driving and red-light running to phone use behind the wheel, wrongful overtaking, uninsured vehicles, and expired roadworthy certificates or licences.
Fixed cameras, radar, and handheld and vehicle-mounted devices will capture the offences. Violations are then reviewed in a control room before a validated notice detailing the offence, penalty and payment method is sent electronically to the vehicle owner’s phone.
In areas where permanent camera installations are not yet available, the Police Service has acquired tripods to mount cameras temporarily, while some cameras will be mounted on vehicles for mobile monitoring.
Targeting corruption and human error
Chief Superintendent Obeng said a central aim of Traffitech is to limit the role of human discretion in enforcement, which has been identified as a contributor to both corruption and preventable road crashes.
By shifting to an automated, camera-based model, the Police Service hopes to make enforcement more consistent and less susceptible to interference. The Director-General of the Road Safety Commission, Abraham Amaliba, has said the system will reduce the need for officers to patrol roadsides manually.
“So we are no longer going to have policemen standing by the roadsides. It’s in the LI; if you drive, you will see the cameras already connected to a backroom,” he said.
Road safety crisis drives reform
The rollout comes amid a worsening road safety crisis. Transport Minister Joseph Bukari Nikpe disclosed that 2,949 people died in road crashes in 2025, an average of about eight deaths every day, from 14,743 reported crashes that also left more than 16,000 injured.
Speeding remained the dominant contributory factor, accounting for more than 60 percent of all collisions recorded during the year. Motorcycle-related incidents also surged, with 6,548 motorcycles involved in 2,025 crashes, a 19.4 percent increase over 2024.
A World Bank report from August 2026 estimated the cost of road crash fatalities and serious injuries in Ghana at $4.55 billion annually, equivalent to approximately 2.1 percent of GDP.
Broader regulatory changes
The Traffitech rollout is part of a wider overhaul of Ghana’s road traffic regime under the new legal framework. The Road Traffic (Amendment) Act, 2025 (Act 1153), passed in December 2025, gave the system the statutory backing it needed to move from warnings to enforceable camera-based fines.
Other changes under the new regulations include a shift in vehicle registration policy, with registration numbers now belonging to the registered owner rather than the vehicle. When a vehicle is sold, the registration number remains with the previous owner, and the new owner must obtain a new number.
The DVLA also plans to recall existing number plates nationwide as part of a new system for issuing biennial renewal stickers.
Under the Road Traffic Regulations, vehicle owners are now required to subscribe to a towing service or hold an insurance policy with towing cover. Vehicles abandoned on public roads will be seized and auctioned if not reclaimed within seven days.
