One can say without equivocation that, November 2026 hit the ground running/sprinting by applying brakes on speeding drivers. On November 1st 2026, a new automated traffic-control-system TrafficTech-GH became operational in Ghana. This system by the Ghana Police will be managed by the MTTD. With Traffic-Tech, physical monitoring by the police will be replaced eventually, by an automated network.
True to the Ghanaian’s nature, while some drivers humorously said until 1stNovember 2026, they never checked how fast their speedometers read, othersangrily said government should have fixed all roads and have proper markings/signage before implementing Traffic-Tech! For some, a system from a country where things work (Sweden) is being imposed on Ghana which does not have the infrastructure for it. Indeed, some argued rather glibly that, Traffictech is for income-generation. Others describe TrafficTech as “illegal.”
Whatever it is, the effect in the first week of implementation was phenomenal. Speeding reduced considerably with some discipline evident.
Incidentally, RTAs has been a topic I have written a lot on since my first in 2017 titled “Motorway Kamikaze?” My most recent in December 2025 titled “RTA Epidemic?” is quoted below.
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Knowing the road traffic indiscipline on our roads, before driving out of the house each morning, I pray for patience. Yet within minutes of leaving home, my patience gets sorely tested. On two occasions last week, I had to dig deep into the Defensive-Driving Skills Automobile-Association (AA) taught me in 1974, to avert near crashes.
Data from the National Road Safety Authority and the MTTD show about a 20% increase in RTA in 2025 from 2024. Provisional figure for mid-December 2025 are
Total crashes – Approx 13,000
Fatalities (Deaths) – Aprox 2,600
Injuries – Appox 13,000
While the January-August 2025 figures stood at 1,937 dead, it marked a 20% increase over 2024 figure. Injuries saw a 10.2% increase while total crashes increased by 11%.
This alarming situation took me back to my most recent article on RTAs titled “Bad Roads, Reckless Driving and RTAs,” published in May 2025. Part read:
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In the first week of May 2025, two friends who traveled from Accra to Kumasi shared their experiences with me. Driving his SUV, the first said it took him seven hours to Kumasi. The return trip the following day took the same time. When I asked why it took him so long in his strong/solid SUV, he replied, “the road isterrible, and people drive dangerously/recklessly/lawlessly. Indeed, it was/is like the jungle law of survival not only of the fittest, but the unscrupulous as well!”
The second went by “VIP-Transport” bus to Kumasi. It took eight hours. He stated that, the driver drove carefully/sensibly to the annoyance of three young men who kept goading/harassing him to drive faster. Their reason? They were graduating at 4pm that day at KNUST and therefore wanted the driver to speed so they would not be late for the ceremony!
Road-Traffic-Accidents (RTAs)
Earlier, on Tuesday April 22nd 2025, a RTA) at Amanase on the Accra-Kumasi Highway, an accident involving a fuel-tanker and a Sprinter bus left 11 dead and many critically injured. May 1st 2025 started with a RTA at Yeji, Bono-East on the Kumasi-Tamale Highway. 8 persons were killed, with 11 in critical condition.
I asked myself, what has changed since my 2017 article on RTAs titled “Motorway Kamikaze Driving?” Parts read:
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Accra-Tema Motorway
In a recent publication, Ghana’s death toll of over 1,700 casualties in the first nine months of 2016 was adjudged one of the highest in the world.
As a little boy living in Michel Camp with my parents in the early 1960s, I had the pleasure and privilege of being one of the early users of the newly constructed Accra-Tema Motorway, taking rides with my parents anytime they came to Accra. The 19 kilometer solid concrete road was modeled on the German autobahn andwas intended by President Osagyefo Dr Kwame to be the first of many such motorways to link major cities in Ghana. It was simply an amazing construction and I loved being driven on it. There were
telephone booths at regular intervals for emergencies and solid ground reflectors for night driving.
Today however, in my retirement, even though it is the fastest way of getting to Accra from my home, I avoid the motorway like a plague if I can. Why? It has become a death-trap with accidents occurring frequently. People drive on it at top speeds like Jehu, overtaking every vehicle in sight, while crisscrossing and zigzagging to avoid potholes! Indeed, some drive like Japanese pilots on a Kamikaze mission!
Kamikaze
Towards the end of the World War 2 in 1945, Japan resorted to desperate measuresas the end appeared to be in sight for them. She trained pilots in the Japanese Air Force for suicide missions of crashing their planes loaded with explosives on any Allied targets they saw, especially warships. They were the equivalent of today’s suicide bombers. Today, such is the fury and ferocity of driving on the Accra-Tema Motorway! Unfortunately, this dangerous driving appears to be only the tip of the iceberg of dangerous driving in Ghana.
As for the commercial motor bike riders called “okada,” weaving through traffic dangerously without helmets, and going through red lights with impunity appears to be their stock in trade.
Indiscipline
Many years ago, I took my driving test in a car with the Manual/Stick-shift gears. Before then, my driving instructor told me that,” if you do not drive in the correct gears, the vehicle will drive you by stalling on you and stopping.” I was also taught Defensive Driving and Road Courtesy. Today, modern technology has replacedmanual gear vehicles with automatic transmissions. This has reduced driving to speeding hard and then jamming on the brakes for an instant stop!
Unfortunately driving automatic vehicles demands very little thinking! So drivers can afford to drive with one hand, while making a mobile phone call with the other.Indeed, some accidents may have been caused with loss of lives because the drivers were distracted while driving and phoning.
Elsewhere, driving offences are punishable by an increase in insurance premium for the offender. Where it persists, the offending driver has his driving license revoked. Indeed, at the time of writing on Tuesday, 13th December 2016, BBC announced the imposition of an eighty thousand-dollar fine on Ivorian football star Yahaya Toure for driving under the influence of alcohol. Additionally, he was banned from driving for eighteen months.
Again, very fast buses meant for ambulances in advanced countries, on decommissioning, are imported into Ghana and metal seats welded in them to play the role of passenger vehicles! In the event of an accident, the welded metals do the killing of innocent passengers. DVLA, why do you register decommissioned ambulances brought to Ghana as passenger vehicles?
Conclusion
A combination of reckless driving, poorly maintained vehicles and bad roads make driving very unsafe in Ghana. Ghana Police Service, why are vehicles with DP and DV plates speeding about so confidently? Finally, government must provide good/safe roads
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Summary
In my 2024 article titled “I am scared of my own driving,” I stated as follows.
“The mid-year report published by the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) stated that between January – June 2024, there were 6653 accidents reported mainly attributable to driver indiscipline. There were 8798 casualties comprising 1237 deaths and 7561
injuries.
In August 2021, two MPs were involved in road-traffic-accidents. Showing no sympathy whatsoever, some Ghanaians angrily stated rather uncharitably that, it was a travesty of justice that they survived, considering how little they in authority
care about the thousands of Ghanaians who die annually in RTAs. No wonder Ghanaians are disappointed with uncaring authorities! Remember John Dryden’s quote, “beware the fury of a patient man!”
Discussion
While “DV” number plates stand for “Defective Vehicle,” “DP” stands for “Drive-from-Port.” They are meant for temporary use only. So, how come they are a permanent feature at weddings these days? Again, why do they speed overtaking every vehicle in sight?
Initially, I disagreed with my AA-Driving -Instructor in 1974 in Canada when he told us; “drive with the notion that you are the only sensible driver on the road. Assume every other driver is stupid! Therefore, you must not only think for yourself, but also think for them.” It did not take me long to fully agree with him. Indeed, if we all drove with commonsense, there will be fewer accidents!
Need I say more?
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Comment
Like any new venture, Traffic-Tech has not been readily accepted by everybody. However, it is for the common good of our collective safety by reducing RTAs. As a panelist said on radio/TV, we must avoid throwing away the baby and the bathtub by excessive legalese and glib academic arguments. Any Ghanaian who has lost a relative in RTA will not dismiss Traffic-Tech. It is new, and not perfect!!
Leadership, lead by Example/integrity! Fellow Ghanaians, WAKE UP!
Brig Gen Dan Frimpong (Rtd)
Former CEO, African Peace Support Trainers Association
Nairobi, Kenya
Council Chairman
Family Health University
Accra
dkfrimpong@yahoo.com
