CUTS International Accra has urged the government to delay fines under the automated Traffitech-GH system, due on 1 October, until faulty traffic lights and road markings are fixed.
The consumer protection and public policy think tank said it supported using technology to make roads safer, but that automated fines would be unfair while drivers could not clearly see the signals and signs they are expected to obey. “Government must also make the law clear and visible on the road,” the group said in a statement.
The warning comes two days before the Ghana Police Service begins issuing fines. Under the scheme, cameras and handheld devices detect offences, and after review the police send electronic notices of violation by SMS stating the offence and the fine. Camera-detected offences carry graduated fines under the new Road Traffic Regulations, 2026: GH¢120 for each of the first three offences, rising to GH¢180 for a fourth and GH¢240 for a fifth, with possible licence suspension after a sixth within 24 months.
What the think tank found
CUTS pointed to three problems on Accra’s roads. Overgrown branches block drivers’ view of traffic lights at some junctions, while other signal heads are damaged, displaced or not working, sometimes with only one of two lights functioning. In those conditions, it argued, a camera mounted high above a junction could record a car crossing on red even when the driver could not see the light.
Faded lane markings and missing stop lines make it hard for drivers to position their vehicles correctly, the group said. And although the regulations set general speed limits, it said signs marking where lower limits begin, near schools, markets and busy pedestrian areas, are scarce.
It proposed that the police and the Department of Urban Roads inspect every camera site from the driver’s seat, by day, by night and in the rain, and that vegetation be cut back, signals repaired and lines repainted before cameras go live. Fining should then be switched on junction by junction, only where the infrastructure is working.
The case for going ahead
The police say the programme is meant to tackle indiscipline and cut crashes. Government data cited by Sensys Gatso, the Swedish firm supplying the technology through a joint venture on an 11-year contract signed in December 2022, show 2,949 people died in road crashes in Ghana in 2025, up 18.2% from 2,494 in 2024.
The police say detected offences are reviewed before notices are sent, and training for enforcement staff has covered how motorists can contest automated fines. The Motor Traffic and Transport Department completed the last of five regional training sessions in Ho on 24 September.
