Are new traffic fines for road safety improvements or financial reasons?

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OPINION

By Samson Tinka

On May 28, 2025, the secretary in the Office of the President Hajji Yunus Kakande letter to IGP Abbas Byakagaba was instructing him to immediately implement the traffic digital penalty issuance system.

On Saturday, June 7, 2025, the implementation began with some sections of roads within Kampala and Entebbe. From then to now, the cries, the noise, the frustration are all over Kampala and the neighbouring areas.

Whereas it’s true that most drivers don’t adhere to speed limits and other traffic rules and regulations its important to note that road safety is a combination of many things to achieve road safety.

Key components of road safety

Awareness and Education: Public awareness campaigns play a vital role in educating road users about safe driving practices, the dangers of distracted driving, and the importance of adhering to traffic laws. For instance, campaigns like "Safer Driving Starts With You" aim to reinforce safe behaviours among drivers. With these new fines, this has been a grey area.

The sensitisation has not been done or done inadequately. Lack of knowledge may slow down the implementation or even frustrate it at all as its happening now. Government should commit resources in terms of personnel, airtime on media channels to reach the actual stakeholders of this project, and these are drivers, motor vehicle owners and even police who are implementers.

Legislation and Enforcement: Governments implement laws and regulations to enhance road safety, such as speed limits, seatbelt requirements, and penalties for driving under the influence. Enforcement of these laws is essential to ensure compliance and deter unsafe behaviours.

Infrastructure Improvements: Upgrading road infrastructure, including better signage, lighting, and road design, can significantly reduce the risk of accidents. Identifying and addressing dangerous road locations is also a critical aspect of improving safety.

Ugandan roads and specifically those around Kampala metro areas are so bad in both physical condition, markings and signage. Road health is critical in ensuring road safety. Absence of road markings, signage and lighting greatly impairs road safety.

Kampala traffic lights are both seasonal and unpredictable. You will never know when they are on or off. For example, Serena Kigo traffic lights have been off for the last many months.

Entebbe Road traffic lights, be it those in Lweza, Nkumba, Biata Ababiri, Katabi, Entebbe town, and State House, are on and off. How do you ensure road safety when infrastructure is either absent or unreliable?

At Queen's Way, Yusufu Lule Road, Jinaj road and Wandegeya traffic lights, during peak hours, the traffic police office intervenes in directing traffic and traffic light signals are not followed in order to ease vehicle movement. Remember, this is a manual intervention, and the digital traffic issuance scheme is automated. How will the manual intervention of traffic officers be reconciled with the digital automated scheme? Each road section has a different speed limit, and this is communicated by the placement of road signs to signal to road users of what speed one should drive.

Unfortunately, these signs are either non-existent, worn out, facing in wrong direction, or hidden. There is no way you can hold accountable later fine a road user where such important notices are absent. Road markings like no overtaking, zebra crossings, cows crossing, school zone, etc not exist, and this will be difficult for both drivers to comply with speed limits, but also for enforcement teams to carry out enforcement duties.

Community Involvement: Road safety is a collective responsibility. Communities are encouraged to participate in road safety initiatives, report hazardous conditions, and promote safe driving practices among friends and family.

Unfortunately, the communities have done more harm than good as far as road safety is concerned. Theft and vandalism of road signage, especially those made of steel, is common. This can be attributed to a lack of knowledge of the importance of these signages or to the poverty levels of the surrounding communities. Whichever the case may be, the absence of signage affects road safety implementation.

Statistics and Goals: Road safety statistics highlight the ongoing challenges and successes in reducing road trauma. For example, in Uganda, the highest contributor or causer of road accidents are boda bodas.

Up to date, the government continues to allow the importation and registration of boda bodas in Uganda. This is almost insane. You can not have a million bodas in Kampala metro areas and expect to have safe roads. That's not possible. In 2016, my wife’s uncle got a motorcycle accident and we went to see him in Mulago, the ward he was in had 29 accident patients, one was a young boy who fell from guava tree, another was also a young boy who fell on a bicycle, the rest 27 patients were bodaboda victims.

In Arua city, at the referral hospital, there is a ward named SENKE ward. Senke was a type of motorcycle that was imported from DRC in 2000s and 2010 and above. That ward was named SENKE ward because it used to host boda boda casualties. A flash on Jinja Road and Queen’s Way traffic lights, either in the morning or evening, can confirm the boda boda mess in Kampala.

Police have online CCTV footage of Kampala and Uganda, and they always see how these boda bodas violate every traffic rule and regulation, including killing people on a daily basis. Any right-thinking Ugandan traffic safety champion or process owner would be thinking and implementing a process, procedure for removing or reducing boda bodas from Kampala and surrounding roads.

This would make sense to me, to you and other road users. The figures are in black and white. Police, Mulago and Kirudu and other hospitals have these figures. Why keep a blind eye on the actual problem cause and harass motor vehicle owners and drivers in the name of road safety improvement? If you want to solve the problem, start with the cause.

Uganda roads are bad not because of a few vehicle users, it's because of largely bad roads, unmarked roads, potholed roads, the bodaboda community, and the absence of functioning road signage.

Could it be for financial gain?

This seems to be the agenda. The leaked minority report from parliament on how the collected fines will be shared seems to speak to the above. Ugandans are struggling to cope with the cost of leaving. School fees are high, food stuff costs are not cheap either, the fuel cost has since gone up also, the medical fees are unattainable and now boom, the traffic fines that must be paid within 72 hours. This is practically possible, morally wrong, technically deficient and a political catastrophe.

The decision makers, the Ministry of Transport, would urgently pull down this move before it curtails the transport sector and the economy in general. Entebbe Road, for example, is a road to the airport, and it has its own dynamics. In fact, decision makers should have looked at the possibilities of making 100 km per hour for obvious reasons.

It's the same road to the State House, and we all know at what speed Mzee's convoy runs. Blanket decisions are for lazy minds. Each road must be appraised differently and assigned the required speed limits. Imagine 30 km per hour on Entebbe road, this is crazy. It must be a decision of someone living in Amudat or the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. It's high time decision makers prioritise citizens' social and economic needs rather than individual or a few people's financial gains.

Conclusion

In summary, road safety is a multifaceted issue that requires the cooperation of individuals, communities, and governments. By promoting awareness, enforcing laws, improving infrastructure, and encouraging community involvement, we can work towards safer roads for everyone.

As it is now, these fines are not for safer roads; they have been implemented for other gains, and the ultimate loser will be government, especially since we are entering the peak of politics.

The ruling party has been struggling in the central part of Uganda, and I can assure you that with these hard-hitting fines, the votes will come down again.

To you, bad drivers, wake up and follow the basic rules and best practices while on the road. You may be the next victim or your child, wife, mother or any relative. It's you and me to make roads safer for everyone. Don't hide behind these fines to make a case, respect other road users so that we can both reach safely to our destinations.

The writer is a safety and security consultant.