A feature by DCOP David Senanu Eklu (Rtd.)
Accra, Aug. 23, GNA – Drivers play an indispensable role in Ghana’s quest to bring sanity to the roads and prevent crashes that result in deaths, injuries and loss of property.
However, it appears that existing measures, particularly the licensing of drivers to regulate their conduct, are not effective enough.
Without mincing words, the time has come for the country to move beyond one-time driver licensing to a regime that takes into consideration long-term driver management.
A driving licence answers one question: Has this person met the legal requirements to drive a particular class of vehicle?
Road safety requires another question to be asked throughout a driver’s career: What does the driver’s verified safety record say about the risk they pose to other road users?
In Ghana, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) already maintains licensing records and handles renewals, upgrading, verification, proficiency testing and accident-related examinations.
The Road Traffic Regulations also provide for the suspension, cancellation and disqualification of licences, as well as retraining.
The Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) compiles crash reports and feeds them into training and other interventions.
These are useful foundations. Yet, there is no publicly documented system that routinely brings together a driver’s police traffic records, court outcomes, licence sanctions, retraining history and current authority to drive in one place.
That does not necessarily mean that such records do not exist. Rather, the challenge is that the institutions involved do not have an easy, integrated way of viewing a driver’s lifetime safety profile.
As this feature went to press, the DVLA had announced plans for a UK-style penalty-points system, under which drivers would start each year with 20 points, although some officials have proposed 40.
Drivers would lose points for offences and could be required to undergo retraining when their points were exhausted, subject to parliamentary approval.
That is a welcome first step. However, on its own, it does not constitute the integrated, multi-agency driver profile proposed in this feature.
How Does a Demerit Points System Work?
A demerit-points system turns a driver’s history of unsafe behaviour into a simple, trackable score.
Drivers start each period with a fixed number of points, while offences attract deductions based on their severity.
A minor lapse may result in the loss of a few points, while a serious offence, such as drink-driving, could attract a much heavier penalty and, in some cases, automatic suspension.
Once a driver reaches a specified threshold, graduated measures can be applied, ranging from warnings and retraining to suspension and, ultimately, loss of the licence.
Points may also expire after a period of safe driving, thereby encouraging improvement and responsible behaviour.
The value of such a system is its simplicity: it transforms scattered warning signs into a visible record that can trigger intervention before a pattern of unsafe behaviour becomes a tragedy.
The Case for a National Driver Safety Profile
The gap matters because repeated unsafe behaviour is often more revealing than a single incident.
A driver may be cautioned several times, fined, convicted, suspended, ordered to undergo retraining or repeatedly reported by an employer.
However, if each record remains in a separate file, the pattern may go unnoticed until a serious crash occurs.
The answer is not a public blacklist.
Rather, Ghana needs a secure National Driver Safety Profile covering every category of licensed driver, including private motorists, commercial and ride-hailing drivers, motorcyclists, school-bus and institutional drivers, tanker operators and other heavy-vehicle operators.
The profile could combine verified information on licence validity and class, serious convictions, active suspensions, retraining and defensive-driving courses completed.
It should also recognise good conduct, including long periods without offences, advanced training and safe fleet performance.
The purpose should not be punishment alone, but lifelong development, accountability and prevention.
Lessons from Other Jurisdictions
International practice offers useful lessons.
In the United Kingdom, drivers can view their own driving records and create a time-limited code to share information such as penalty points and disqualifications.
New South Wales in Australia allows drivers to check their demerit points and offence records online.
Singapore’s Driver Improvement Points System uses demerit points, suspensions and structured courses to rehabilitate errant drivers. The country is also tightening its system from January 2027 after road deaths reached a 10-year high.
Ghana need not copy any one country. It can adapt the shared principles: integrated records, graduated intervention and controlled access.
Technology Can Make It Practical
Technology could make such a system practical.
A licence or secure digital credential could be scanned before a long journey, during a roadside check or before a heavy-vehicle driver is assigned a particular route.
What a passenger or ordinary member of the public sees should be limited to essential information, such as whether the driver has a valid licence and is authorised to operate the particular vehicle class.
The Police, DVLA and courts, however, should have access to the fuller record necessary for enforcement, rehabilitation and sentencing, subject to clearly defined legal safeguards.
Data Protection and Accountability
Strong safeguards would be essential.
Driver records must be accurate and protected under Ghana’s data-protection framework.
Access must be role-based and auditable, while drivers must have the right to view their own records and challenge or correct inaccurate information.
A system of this nature must never become a tool for arbitrary discrimination or public shaming.
Its purpose should be to identify risk early, promote responsible driving and ensure that enforcement and rehabilitation are based on verified information.
A Practical Starting Point
Ghana could begin with a feasibility study led by the DVLA, the Ghana Police Service, the courts, the National Road Safety Authority and the Data Protection Commission.
The initiative could initially be piloted among long-distance and heavy-vehicle operators while the wider architecture is developed.
Such a pilot would help identify data-sharing challenges, establish appropriate safeguards and determine how best to integrate existing systems.
Driving as a Lifelong Responsibility
Licensing should not be viewed merely as a one-time gateway, followed only by periodic renewal.
Driving is a lifelong responsibility, and a modern road-safety system should be capable of identifying repeated risk early, requiring improvement where necessary and recognising drivers who consistently protect other road users.
A licence tells us that a person is qualified to drive.
A National Driver Safety Profile could tell us whether that person remains safe, accountable and properly authorised to drive today.
EveryDay Lens Innovation Spotlight: National Driver Safety Profile
Ghana’s driver records are held across institutions, including the DVLA, Police, courts and individual employers. Consequently, patterns of repeated risk can go unnoticed until a crash occurs.
A secure National Driver Safety Profile could link relevant records and trigger graduated responses, ranging from a warning to a licence review, while also recognising sustained safe conduct.
The DVLA, Police and National Road Safety Authority could pilot the data-sharing framework with one driver category before expanding it nationwide.
EveryDay Lens Reflection
Repeated unsafe behaviour is an early warning.
When verified information is scattered, that warning can be lost. When it is integrated, fairly assessed and linked to improvement, it becomes preventive intelligence.
Through EveryDay Lens®, MISORNU ( [email protected]) translates everyday security and safety lessons into practical guidance for responsible behaviour and policy improvement.
(DCOP David Senanu Eklu (Rtd.) CPP (ASIS International), is a retired senior officer of the Ghana Police Service and Founder/Executive Director of the MISORNU Safety Centre, an NGO promoting a Safety-First Mindset through preventive security education, research and training).
GNA
Edited by Agnes Boye-Doe