Death toll on Uganda’s roads alarming
Feb 09, 2010
EDITOR—The exact toll of accidents on Uganda’s roads is hazy but alarming nonetheless. The road environment invokes a spectre of doom. The critical condition of our roads is obvious. Many pedestrians, cyclists and motorists behave in a manner inconsistent with road safety.
EDITOR—The exact toll of accidents on Uganda’s roads is hazy but alarming nonetheless. The road environment invokes a spectre of doom. The critical condition of our roads is obvious. Many pedestrians, cyclists and motorists behave in a manner inconsistent with road safety.
Much of the motorised transport does not belong on safe roads. The regulatory regime for road use is inadequate, to say the least. It is too easy to start a driving school or run a taxi.
Many driving schools have no prescribed property for theoretical classes and administration. The standards for those that might have are unclear if not non-existent. By comparison, in Norway, several years’ experience as a certified driving instructor is compulsory. In Belgium, documented experience as a driving instructor is also a must.
In both countries, taxis run under companies with a central terminal. Taxi drivers must have certificates of good conduct and health from the relevant authorities as well as a taxi drivers’ diploma. If education be the key, then Uganda has to be the door because this country lacks a curriculum combining theoretical and practical aspects of driving. In contrast, doctors whose job it is to save lives learn their trade over six years, while pilots endure two to three years of a gruelling curriculum.
Prevention is better than cure in most western European countries. For one, reconditioned cars are forbidden. Besides, all cars older than four years must pass a compulsory annual mechanical check at a government approved facility on pain of deregistration and or heavy fines for non-compliance.
The test results show up in databases accessible to the Police. A few touches on a touch screen inside a Police car reveals details of a vehicle of interest.
A regular Police officer beyond exceptional overt signs is not competent to declare a car not roadworthy because the Police school is not a technical school. Their involvement beyond asking for a certificate of roadworthiness is a temptation to corruption.
The next best to being wise is to be in the circle of those who are. Our neighbours, Kenya and Tanzania have decided against older reconditioned vehicles.
Reconditioning a car is about keeping costs down and profits high. Old parts get a make-over because new ones are costly. The shiny finish is like a porcelain veneer over a bad tooth. In that light, most cars presented for inspection will pass — a rubber stamp of sorts. Instead, it would be more helpful to check vehicles yearly as a pre-condition for a road licence.
Registration number plates should be personal and non-transferable and issued only to those with a contact address valid for at least one registration cycle. Time limits for the mechanical checks, road licence and insurance renewal and address changes should be set and communicated at or within specific periods of the year. Corroborate addresses by sending registration documents only by registered post.
Time limits for service delivery are also a potent weapon against corruption. Insurers should present their data in enough detail to a central database.
Mechanical checkpoints create jobs, widen the tax base and most importantly, save lives. If a garage downtown cannot from verifiable competence, get a licence to build a car or car parts, how then could it safely refit an imported one? All this might sound like a tall order, but there is no doubt what we do about this problem reflects the value attached to Ugandan lives.
Adyeri Kyomuhendo
Norway
Much of the motorised transport does not belong on safe roads. The regulatory regime for road use is inadequate, to say the least. It is too easy to start a driving school or run a taxi.
Many driving schools have no prescribed property for theoretical classes and administration. The standards for those that might have are unclear if not non-existent. By comparison, in Norway, several years’ experience as a certified driving instructor is compulsory. In Belgium, documented experience as a driving instructor is also a must.
In both countries, taxis run under companies with a central terminal. Taxi drivers must have certificates of good conduct and health from the relevant authorities as well as a taxi drivers’ diploma. If education be the key, then Uganda has to be the door because this country lacks a curriculum combining theoretical and practical aspects of driving. In contrast, doctors whose job it is to save lives learn their trade over six years, while pilots endure two to three years of a gruelling curriculum.
Prevention is better than cure in most western European countries. For one, reconditioned cars are forbidden. Besides, all cars older than four years must pass a compulsory annual mechanical check at a government approved facility on pain of deregistration and or heavy fines for non-compliance.
The test results show up in databases accessible to the Police. A few touches on a touch screen inside a Police car reveals details of a vehicle of interest.
A regular Police officer beyond exceptional overt signs is not competent to declare a car not roadworthy because the Police school is not a technical school. Their involvement beyond asking for a certificate of roadworthiness is a temptation to corruption.
The next best to being wise is to be in the circle of those who are. Our neighbours, Kenya and Tanzania have decided against older reconditioned vehicles.
Reconditioning a car is about keeping costs down and profits high. Old parts get a make-over because new ones are costly. The shiny finish is like a porcelain veneer over a bad tooth. In that light, most cars presented for inspection will pass — a rubber stamp of sorts. Instead, it would be more helpful to check vehicles yearly as a pre-condition for a road licence.
Registration number plates should be personal and non-transferable and issued only to those with a contact address valid for at least one registration cycle. Time limits for the mechanical checks, road licence and insurance renewal and address changes should be set and communicated at or within specific periods of the year. Corroborate addresses by sending registration documents only by registered post.
Time limits for service delivery are also a potent weapon against corruption. Insurers should present their data in enough detail to a central database.
Mechanical checkpoints create jobs, widen the tax base and most importantly, save lives. If a garage downtown cannot from verifiable competence, get a licence to build a car or car parts, how then could it safely refit an imported one? All this might sound like a tall order, but there is no doubt what we do about this problem reflects the value attached to Ugandan lives.
Adyeri Kyomuhendo
Norway