How many Ghanaians must die before we think of digital toll-booth systems?

It is sad to hear of the death of one person with six others seriously injured on the Tema motorway. The incident occurred when a tipper truck run into one of the buildings where attendants sit to collect the necessary toll from the road users. Vehicular traffic at the spot where the tolls are paid has equally created the environment for many other sellers.

For how long are we going to witness and cry over similar situations on our roads where precious lives are to be lost because we need users of the road to pay tolls? Why is it becoming difficult for us as a nation to adopt the use of digital toll booth facilities? It is a matter of making the provisions available for commuters to pay and just show the evidence while at the booth. In fact, one side of the Tema Motorway Tol Booth had been used to pilot this very idea over many years. Only God knows why we are still not on a nationwide rollout.

An open letter that was written and completed in November 2019 by Kwame Yeboah proposed the need to adopt such digital toll booth systems on our road. This system has been beautifully practiced by the University of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, GIMPA, Ghana Airport Company, and others.

If we have the interest to fight corruption and to preserve precious lives, we will take immediate steps to digitize our toll collection systems on our roads and minimizing human interactions.