Why stakeholders want ban on bullbars
“The use of bullbars and metallic guards on vehicles should be outlawed as they are a major killer of people,” said Eng. Mutenyo.
Participants in a group picture during the National Transport Roundtable held at Hotel Africana on Wednesday, 3 September, 2025. (Photos by Colleb Mugume)
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Calls have emerged from Uganda's transport sector urging the Government to ban the fitting of bullbars or bumper guards on vehicles, citing their usage as one of the causes of deaths on roads.
The devices, normally made of steel or aluminium, are installed on the front of vehicles to protect their front from collisions.
But, while they guard a car from potential damage, some in the sector argue bullbars are dangerous to road users.
“The use of bullbars and metallic guards on vehicles should be outlawed as they are a major killer of people,” said Eng. Isaac Mutenyo, the programmes co-ordinator at the Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development (USMID).
According to him, bullbars encourage reckless behaviour among selfish motorists, particularly those who drive with impunity by disregarding the safety of other road users.
Mutenyo's argument is that in case a collision happened, such reckless drivers believe they would incur less damage than the other party involved.
He said heavy steel structures cause instant death on impact, especially for pedestrians and motorcyclists.
“If it hits anybody on the skull, just a little, you are dead."
Speaking on Wednesday (September 3) during a National Transport Roundtable Meeting at Hotel Africana in Kampala, Mutenyo urged the Government to enforce a ban on bullbars to avoid unnecessary deaths.
There is no specific law against the usage of bullbars in Uganda. However, the country's Traffic and Road Safety Act, 1998, includes provisions requiring vehicles to be in a “fit and proper condition” for road use.
The transport minister is empowered by the same law to set safety standards by statutory instrument, including regulating vehicle modifications.
The same legislation states that any modification to a vehicle’s chassis requires prior written permission from the chassis manufacturer or from the Chief Licensing Officer under regulations.
In effect, installing a heavy guard or bullbar without formal authorisation would constitute an unauthorised modification and could potentially render a vehicle noncompliant, and unsafe by law.
In 2019, Araali Nsubuga, a trainer with Professional Driver Training Uganda, said that if a car was not manufactured with a bullbar, then it was not designed to have it.
Other issues were raised during Wednesday's roundtable session.
Eng. Ronald Mukunde said Uganda’s greatest challenge in the transport sector is not policy formulation but execution.
He said there is a need for “seamless implementation of the transport system,” warning that without proper planning, even well-intentioned interventions could backfire.
Citing the congestion within the city centre, Mukunde argued that introducing buses into such a disorganised system would only create further chaos.
He also decried the indiscriminate use of vehicle horns, describing it as a growing source of noise pollution in urban centres.
'Nobody cares'
Meanwhile, Mutenyo said Uganda loses an estimated 6.7% of GDP annually due to poor traffic flow, congestion, and road accidents.
He pointed to the narrow seven-metre stretch through Mabira forest as an example of infrastructure that no longer matches the economic activity it supports, yet continues to record high accident rates.
Uganda, he added, is losing about 14 lives every day to road crashes, worsened by disregard for traffic rules, ignorance of road signage, and the chaotic operation of motorcycles (boda bodas).
“Nobody cares at all. 'I drive the way I want, you sort out yourself',” he said of the prevailing attitude on Ugandan roads.
Mutenyo also raised concerns about the collapse of alternative transport modes. Of the country’s railway network, only 270 kilometres remain functional, while water transport remains underutilised despite its potential to ease mobility.
Air travel, he argued, is equally disconnected from domestic linkages such as Lake Victoria routes that could shorten access to Entebbe airport.
Uniform enforcement
Hajarah Nanyanzi, the Assistant Commissioner for Statistics at the Ministry of Works and Transport, said the Government has not ignored the transport challenges.
“The ministry has tried to implement all policies introduced, but the biggest obstacle has been ensuring that these policies are uniformly enforced across the country,” she said.
According to Nanyanzi, efforts are ongoing to strengthen monitoring and improve coordination with enforcement agencies so that transport reforms can have a visible impact on road safety and efficiency.
Officials called for a holistic approach to transport planning, one that considers infrastructure, governance, vehicle standards, and public behaviour.
On his part, Mutenyo underlined the urgent need for a functional public transport system, recalling a time when Jinja’s structured routes eliminated the need for private cars to take children to school.
According to him, however, anyone with money to buy a motorcycle, minibus, or “lousy bus” can put it on the road, creating a chaotic and unsafe system.