Vehicles do not commit crimes: Registered-Owner liability, the presumption of innocence, and the legality of TRAFFITECH-GH
The TRAFFITECH-GH enforcement system is being questioned regarding its legal methods. It currently uses vehicle registration titles as proof of conduct rather than proving who committed the act. This forces citizens to prove their own innocence. Ghanaian criminal law does not recognize vicarious liability to justify this approach. The Constitution and Evidence Act forbid such methods without legislative warrant. Registered owners are entitled to have the prosecution prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
The legitimacy of an enforcement system depends not only on the soundness of its objectives but on the lawfulness of its methods. TRAFFITECH-GH pursues a vital public purpose, yet in its present form it substitutes a register of title for proof of conduct and asks the citizen to prove his own innocence. Ghanaian criminal law knows no general doctrine of vicarious liability that would justify the former, and the Constitution and the Evidence Act forbid the latter absent clear legislative warrant. Until Parliament supplies that warrant, a registered owner who receives a notice for an offence he did not commit is entitled to require the prosecution to prove, beyond reasonable doubt, that he was the driver. Vehicles do not commit crimes. Persons do, and the law must identify the right person before it punishes anyone.