The new Road Traffic Regulations, 2026 (L.I. 2519) is being hailed by the police as the most comprehensive road law in Ghana’s history. On paper, it is.
It covers everything — from self-driving cars to spare tyres, from TikToking trotro drivers to billboards that block traffic lights, from automated camera fines to disabled parking. The 14-page offence schedule compiled by D/Sgt. Nana Kwadwo Otibu-Gyan shows a law that has tried to think of everything.
But that is exactly its problem. L.I. 2519 tries to regulate everything, but it forgets who is supposed to be regulated.
A good law does not only punish the driver. It also punishes the state when it fails. L.I. 2519 punishes only one side.
Here is a honest critique:
1. IT CRIMINALIZES EVERYTHING, INCLUDING BEING A PEDESTRIAN
Under L.I. 2519, you can go to jail for 7 days for crossing the road wrongly (Section 203), for walking where a sidewalk exists (203), for boarding a car at the wrong place (204).
In a country where there are no sidewalks from Madina to Adenta, no footbridges at many highways, no zebra crossings that drivers respect, we are now jailing the pedestrian for not using what does not exist.
You cannot criminalize a pedestrian for not using a footbridge when the Ministry of Roads has not built the footbridge. You cannot punish a person for jaywalking when the traffic light at the junction has not worked for 3 years. The law puts the entire burden of safety on the weakest road user, while the state bears zero penalty for failing to provide infrastructure.
2. THE PENALTY UNIT IS A JOKE AND AN EXTORTION TOOL
Almost every offence is “Fine: 10-25 penalty units or imprisonment 30 days or both.” 1 penalty unit is GHS 12. So 10 units is GHS 120.
That discretion — “10-25” — is dangerous in Ghana. It means at the roadside, the police officer becomes the judge. Is it 10 or 25? Will it be GHS 120 or GHS 300? The driver will beg. The officer will decide. L.I. 2519, by giving such wide ranges for almost identical offences, has legalized negotiation at the roadside.
And for serious offences like drunk driving (50-200 units, up to 40 months), the fine is still only GHS 2,400 maximum. A man who can afford a Range Rover can drink, drive, kill someone, and pay GHS 2,400. The penalty does not deter the rich; it only crushes the okada rider.
3. WE ARE REGULATING SELF-DRIVING CARS WHEN WE CANNOT REGULATE TROTROS
Sections 58-69 of L.I. 2519 talk about self-driving motor vehicle operator’s licence, learner’s licence for self-driving cars, lending your self-driving licence to another.
Ghana in 2026 has no single certified self-driving car on our roads. We have not finished regulating Uber and Bolt. DVLA cannot even produce licence cards within 3 months. Yet we have 12 sections on self-driving cars.
Meanwhile, the real danger — commercial motorcycles, tricycles (pragya, aboboyaa) — is treated with massive jail terms (8-24 months) but without a clear transition plan. You cannot ban what has become public transport for millions without providing alternatives. Section 175 says riding a tricycle for commercial purpose without a licence from Licensing Authority is 25-50 units or 8 months jail. But Licensing Authority has no district operating permit system in most districts. So we create an offence where compliance is impossible.
4. THE AUTOMATED FINE SYSTEM IS GOOD ON PAPER, DANGEROUS WITHOUT DATA LAW
Section 242(12) introduces automated fines via Traffic Enforcement Devices — cameras. 1st-3rd offence 10 units, 4th 15 units, 5th 20 units, 6th licence revocation.
Good idea — like in Rwanda. But in Ghana:
Who owns the camera data? Where is it stored? Who has access to number plate tracking? We have no Data Protection enforcement for road surveillance. There is no independent adjudication — if the camera wrongly captures you, how do you contest? L.I. 2519 says court-ordered revocation after 6 offences, but it does not say how you will be notified of the first 5. Will it be SMS? Will your car be impounded at DVLA?
Without those safeguards, automated fines become automated extortion. People will wake up to find they owe GHS 2,000 in fines they never knew about.
5. THE LAW FORGETS THE GOVERNMENT’S OWN OFFENCES
Under Section 138(2), depositing construction material on a road causing danger is 25-50 units or 3 months. Good. But who is depositing construction materials on major roads? Often it is contractors working for government.
Under Section 139(3)(d), vandalizing road furniture is an offence. But what about government failing to fix street lights, failing to paint road markings, failing to provide bus stops (Section 227 says unauthorized use of bus stop is offence, but where are the bus stops?).
Section 141 says preaching and hawking on moving commercial vehicle is an offence. But why do people hawk on moving vehicles? Because there are no jobs and no proper bus terminals. The law punishes the symptom, not the disease.
A balanced traffic law would also punish MMDAs for failing to provide footbridges, for failing to clear billboards that block traffic lights (Section 236(3) punishes the advertiser, not the Assembly that approved it).
6. SOME PROVISIONS ARE JUST UNENFORCEABLE
– Section 87(5): Driving without an inflated spare tyre meeting required standard — 25-50 units. So if your spare tyre is flat, you go to jail? How many police officers know how to check spare tyre standard?
– Section 94(4): Vehicle without fire extinguisher and first aid kit — 10-25 units or 30 days. How many private cars have been asked for first aid kit since 1960?
– Section 237(2): Using a television monitor on dashboard while vehicle is in motion — up to 25 units or 30 days. But all new Toyota and Honda cars come with screens. How will police distinguish navigation map from TV?
– Section 179(4): Taxi driver using taxi to convey livestock, meat, fish or carcass not properly packaged — 10-25 units. In Bolgatanga, how else do you convey a goat?
The law was clearly copied from a UK-style regulation without Ghanaian adaptation. That is why it criminalizes things that are normal survival in Ghana.
7. NO PUBLIC EDUCATION BEFORE ENFORCEMENT
L.I. 2519 was passed in 2026. No driver at Neoplan Station in Accra knows it. No okada rider in Kumasi knows Section 175. No pedestrian knows jaywalking is now jailable. The police document is still marked “Prepared by D/Sgt. Nana Kwadwo Otibu-Gyan” — it is an internal prosecution guide, not a public campaign.
You cannot enforce a law people have not been taught. The 1974 Road Traffic Act worked because for 50 years, drivers learned it. If you start arresting tomorrow for “failing to keep entrance, exit and gangway clear” (180(1)(f)), you will fill prisons without reducing accidents.
Fix the Road Before Fixing the Road User
L.I. 2519 is not a bad law in intention. Ghana needs stricter road laws — we kill 2,500 people a year on roads. Drunk driving must be punished heavily, phone while driving must be banned, seatbelts must be enforced.
But a law that only sees the driver as a criminal and the state as a saint will fail.
If you want people to not park in disabled spaces (228(3)), first create disabled spaces. If you want people to not hawk on roads (142), create markets. If you want people to use footbridges (203), build footbridges that a pregnant woman can climb.
Otherwise, L.I. 2519 will become like many laws in Ghana: Very beautiful on paper, very profitable for roadside extortion, and very useless for saving lives on the Tema Motorway where 23-year-old Ivan Baidoo died.
We need enforcement, yes. But we need fairness more.
Alexander Afriyie, supervising editor, ghanacrimereport.com and ghanatalk.com