Every day, thousands of commuters navigate the heavy traffic along the Nsawam-Accra Road, driving past Achimota toward the Apenkwa overhead bridge on their way to Tesano.
Among them are commercial drivers, parents taking children to school, and workers heading to their various destinations, all attempting to follow traffic rules and stay safe.
Yet, hanging directly above this major arterial road is a troubling spectacle in full view of the public, which is a traffic light that has physically shifted out of alignment, turning its signal head away from approaching drivers.
For motorists approaching the junction, the red light is practically invisible. But just a few meters away, the newly installed TRAFFITECH-GH automated cameras sit sharply focused, perfectly positioned, and ready to record infractions.
As the government prepares to launch full automated traffic enforcement on October 1, 2026, this single intersection exposes a glaring irony of the physical infrastructure, which is failing to inform the driver, yet the state’s digital technology is ready to punish them.
The Possible Trap: Punished for an Unseeable Red Light
Traffic signals exist primarily to guide drivers and protect lives. But when a signal head shifts out of a driver’s line of sight, the essential partnership between the road user and traffic authorities breaks down.
On the Nsawam-Accra Road stretch before the Apenkwa-Achimota overhead bridge, an oncoming driver acting in complete good faith can proceed through the intersection, unaware that an out-of-view signal is red
Seconds later, a high-mounted TRAFFITECH camera, which suffers no visual obstruction, snaps the vehicle’s license plate. The driver will receive an automated fine for an offense caused not by reckless driving or willful disregard of the law, but by a physical equipment fault that the state failed to fix.
As policy think tank CUTS International Accra pointed out, this creates an unfair perceptual trap for motorists.
“A camera’s clear view of a vehicle does not mean the driver has a clear view of the relevant signal or sign,” CUTS warned in its public statement, adding that “the purpose of TRAFFITECH-GH is safer roads, not tickets arising from traffic lights drivers could not see.”
Not an Isolated Glitch
The dislocated signal at the Achimota-Apenkwa overhead is far from an isolated case. CUTS highlighted that similar dangers exist across the capital, including at the Police Training Academy junction in Tesano, where traffic lights have also twisted out of clear view.
For some intersections such as Kwashieman, the traffic signals are not working at all.
Aside from faulty traffic signals, across Accra’s road network, drivers routinely face issues such as
overgrown tree branches choking signal visibility, broken or displaced signal heads, where only one of two lights works, faded lane markings and invisible stop lines, leaving drivers guessing where to halt.
When these physical hazards, which are through no fault of commuters, combine with high-tech camera enforcement, the Traffitech-GH System becomes an injustice.
A Call for Fair Enforcement: Fix the Signal First
In response to these defects, CUTS International Accra is demanding an immediate pause on the October 1 enforcement rollout until authorities inspect and repair malfunctioning traffic infrastructure.
The group argues that holding drivers accountable to the law requires the government to first make the law clearly visible on the road.
Until the twisted traffic light at the Achimota-Apenkwa overhead is brought back into line, launching automated fines risks turning a safety initiative into a source of public frustration and unfair penalties.
