Mounting of billboards by advertisers and politicians has become rampant among municipalities as the 2024 general elections approach, destroying Accra’s beauty by poor management and maintenance with billboards carelessly ‘strewn’ along roads and highways.
These billboards have been mounted improperly blocking road signs of both drivers and pedestrians leading to road crushes.
A tour of some streets in Awoshie, Kanaeshie and Jamestown by The High Street Journal (THSJ), observed that some billboards seeking awareness and votes had been mounted improperly at various points along the road causing traffic congestion.
In recent times, the mounting of huge billboards has become a big market for the outdoor advertisement sector. Due to that, billboards are fast cluttering up the road infrastructure space in Accra.
Furthermore, traffic signs mounted to inform and warn motorists and pedestrians to ensure safety for all road users have been defaced and covered, rendering them unusable for road users.
Although the assemblies are mandated to control and collect levies on these outdoor advertisements, they have focused on collecting the levies, paying little attention to the damages it is causing.
In an interview with THSJ, the president of the Advertising Association of Ghana, Mr. Andrew Ackah said, that the municipal assemblies must ensure that the engineering drawings and technical specifications are properly checked and approved before mounting billboards, adding that, this applies to political parties as well.
He recounted that the Association, had, on several occasions liaised with the authorities to enforce the laws, however, the assemblies continue to conspire with businesses and other reputable brands to flout the regulations.
In some situations, he said, the individuals who mounted the billboards did not have the technical expertise on signage placement and ended up causing havoc on the roads.
“Advertising is a regulated profession because when you allow uninformed people to enter into that space, it becomes a recipe for disaster and that is the challenge we have in this country,” he stressed.
The lawlessness, he noted, was at its peak during election campaign seasons.
He said a bill has been drafted by the association with endorsements from the Ghana Standard Authority (GSA) to ensure specification for outdoor signs, however, the bill has yet to be raised in parliament since 2016.
The bill indicated that billboards shall be displayed perpendicular to the direction of oncoming traffic, and a minimum distance of 500 meters intervals on the same side of the road shall be maintained.
It said displays should be in either landscape or portrait type, applying road-safety principles when determining letter sizes and the length of messages to prevent distractions for drivers.
The Road Traffic Regulation, 2012, also stipulates that an outdoor advertising sign placed on a road or related facility shall be placed in a manner that does not interfere with or obscure a traffic sign, device or signal to render the use of the road or facility unsafe to a motorist or pedestrian.
It adds that a person who contravenes the regulation commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than 25 penalty units and not more than 50 penalty units or to a term of imprisonment of not more than three months.
Mr Ackah assured that if the bill was passed, the mounting of billboards would stop right away.
