Put signposts showing where Traffitech cameras are, warning motorists that there is a speed camera ahead is important for transparency - Mahama
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Put signposts showing where Traffitech cameras are, warning motorists that there is a speed camera ahead is important for transparency - Mahama

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President John Dramani Mahama has directed that signposts showing where a Traffitech-GH speed camera is located should be put up as a warning to motorists that there is a speed camera ahead.

To President Mahama, transparency is important "because that is one of the things you need to do, if you are introducing this kind of innovation. You need to put signposts, warning motorists, that there is a speed camera ahead. I think that transparency is important."

He has therefore dismissed calls for the government to fix roads and related infrastructure first before implementing the TraffiTech-GH traffic enforcement system, insisting that road safety measures must not wait for perfect road conditions.

"If you look at the number of children knocked down every year in Ghana when they are coming from school, you will understand why it is important for us to check over speeding. Children coming from school are knocked down and killed or permanently injured and so it is important for us to check speeding," President Mahama said.

“And my understanding is that Traffitech has begun with overspeeding, they have not yet added the other components of jumping red light, parking wrongly and so I hear they [public] say we should fix the roads before we introduce Traffitech, I mean, it doesn’t happen like that. The roads are not perfect in UK and yet they have speed cameras," the President added.

"All I will urge is that, the police and those implementing Traffitech should put signs showing where the cameras are, because that is one of the things you need to do, if you are introducing this kind of innovation. You need to put signposts, warning motorists, that there is a speed camera ahead. I think that transparency is important," President Mahama said.


On arguments that the fines under Traffitech were expensive, President Mahama's reaction is that, "If it is too expensive then don’t overspeed, that’s all, there is a solution to it."

President Mahama spoke to 1957 News on the newly introduced TraffiTech-GH system on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government, at Jumby Bay Island in Antigua and Barbuda.

The Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service rolled out TraffiTech-GH on November 1, deploying camera technology to detect traffic violations, with the initial phase focusing on speeding.

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