Police digitizes express penalty scheme for motorists

 

The Police are rolling out the electronic express penalty scheme (EPS) for motorists. The Deputy Inspector General of Police, Sabiiti Muzeeyi, launched the digital scheme at the police headquarters in Kampala on Monday.

 

The police leadership said the new electronic scheme comes into force immediately and will help the Government to collect more EPS charges from errant drivers.

 

The EPS scheme was piloted in three districts in 2002 and rolled out in 2005. The traffic police officers have since the inception of the scheme been issuing to drivers accused of committing traffic offences physical tickets.

 

The offenders presented the tickets to banks to be able to make payments. The new system has not eliminated the physical receipts but has digitized part of the process.

 

The traffic officers will rely on handheld devices and thermal printers - each equal to the size of a smartphone - to print and issue motorists with tickets to able to effect payments in banks for committing traffic offences.

 

 

 

The new system will rely on driving permit numbers of drivers and can track motorists with pending fines. The police said a driving permit of a motorist with pending fines would not be renewed.

 

The owners of vehicles can also use the system to establish the number of pending tickets issued to their drivers.

 

"It will be useful in eliminating drivers who have been committing offences and running away from one company to another before making payments. You cannot risk people's lives or even cause fatal accidents and then run away and find employment with another company," Muzeeyi said.

 

The director for traffic and road safety, Steven Kasiima, said the software for the new EPS system was developed by the police ICT and traffic team and Uganda Revenue Authority. Zebra Technologies, a South African firm, according to Police, supplied the gadgets.