A solar-powered speed radar to check the speed of motorists using the Tema stretch had been mounted along the Accra-Tema Motorway.
The panel, which reads the speed of approaching vehicles and cautions them with red signals if the vehicle is moving beyond the required 100 kilometre per hour speed limit, was mounted by the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) in collaboration with the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA).
Acting Director-General of the NRSA, Mr David Osafo Adonteng, who unveiled the radar yesterday, said the panel was one of the new initiatives to promote road safety in the country.
He stated that the radar was a modern technological road sign that provided real-time information about the speed at which vehicles were travelling.
“We want to use technology to reduce road accidents in the country. This radar is a modernised road sign that immediately tells the motorists the speed it is moving at.
If it detects that it is moving beyond the speed limits, it gives a warning signal. So it is creating awareness about the enforcement of speed limits which is necessary to reduce road carnages,” Mr Adonteng added.
He explained that currently, the speed radar would conscientise drivers on obeying speed limits on the various categories of roads.
Per the Road Acts, Highway Code and Road Traffic Regulations which governed transport and traffic issues in the country, motorists were expected to drive between the speed limits of 30 to 50 kilometres per hour in urban areas, 80 kilometres per hour on regional and inter-regional highways, 90 kilometres per hour on national highways and 100 kilometres per hour on motorways.
Any driver, who speeds beyond the prescribed limits, Mr Adonten said, was liable to arrest and prosecution.
In the coming months, he noted that the NRSA would install cameras, which would work in tandem with the speed radar, and capture the details of vehicles and drivers who exceed the speed limits for possible arrest and prosecution.
He noted that the NRSA was concerned about non-working speedometers in some commercial vehicles, popularly known as “trotro,” which were used as an excuse by drivers who broke the law.
The Acting Director-General said the Authority was working towards installing more speed radars along both stretches of the motorway to deal with overspeeding.
He advised owners of pre-owned vehicles to undertake a change of name as required by law so that the real users of offending vehicles would be made to face the law.
Mr Maxwell Klu, Principal Engineer of Road Safety Division, Ghana Highway Authority, said the digital speed sign would conscientise drivers on speed limits to enable them deal effectively with accident situations.
BY CLAUDE NYARKO ADAMS
