Who is in charge of Kampala traffic?
Mar 30, 2008
<b>Letter of the day</b><br><br>EDITOR—Because of their failure to manage traffic in Kampala, the Uganda Police has tainted its image. One of the travel advisories to intending travellers to Uganda is traffic or the madness of it! The Police should use a business model while focusing on simple
Letter of the day
EDITOR—Because of their failure to manage traffic in Kampala, the Uganda Police has tainted its image. One of the travel advisories to intending travellers to Uganda is traffic or the madness of it! The Police should use a business model while focusing on simple things like traffic control. It is not uncommon to find traffic police officers overwhelmed by the notorious commuter taxis dubbed kamunye.
There is no doubt that they are not in control. The on-spot fine system should involve targets to be met in form of volume of fines collected by a region.
That way, non-parking areas like Kampala road outside Nandos, or the right side of Dewinton Road are kept free of dangerous parking and at the same time generating the revenue that the police force urgently needs. Many of the traffic jams in Kampala start from junctions, which by the way, are manned by the cops.
Who is in charge of setting up these taxi stages? What does the Highway Code say about these so-called taxi stages? It does not help that many of the traffic cops are overweight. What is the criterion of recruiting traffic police officers?
What training do they undergo? Is it a lifetime job? A younger well trained force would do a better job in traffic control. Look at accidents in Kampala. Most are avoidable.
Many of the taxis do not have lights, indicators, brake lights, wipers or reflectors! Many accidents happen because oncoming traffic is blinded by the lights of cars whose drivers do not dip their lights or cannot see through damaged windscreens.
Why do the traffic Police and their colleagues on patrol vehicles (whose mandate is still unclear) focus on third party insurance and other such trivialities? The causes of death on our roads are not lack of insurance stickers.
Many of the land rover tow-trucks in Kampala have old official Uganda Police number plates inscribed on their heavily scratched windows! This gives an idea as to who benefits from the multitude of road accidents in Kampala.
Many road users will agree that the most dangerously and over-loaded vehicles are those which carry charcoal, spewing blinding plumes of black smoke as they enter the city. look at the immediate surroundings of some of Kampala police stations at Jinja road, Nsambya, Kira Road, Old Kampala, Wandegeya, to mention but a few. They all have big charcoal depots! What is the implication of this? Your guess is as good as mine. We all strive to get wealthy, but in the case of the police, it would be prudent to do it discreetly.
Antony Mwandha
Kampala
EDITOR—Because of their failure to manage traffic in Kampala, the Uganda Police has tainted its image. One of the travel advisories to intending travellers to Uganda is traffic or the madness of it! The Police should use a business model while focusing on simple things like traffic control. It is not uncommon to find traffic police officers overwhelmed by the notorious commuter taxis dubbed kamunye.
There is no doubt that they are not in control. The on-spot fine system should involve targets to be met in form of volume of fines collected by a region.
That way, non-parking areas like Kampala road outside Nandos, or the right side of Dewinton Road are kept free of dangerous parking and at the same time generating the revenue that the police force urgently needs. Many of the traffic jams in Kampala start from junctions, which by the way, are manned by the cops.
Who is in charge of setting up these taxi stages? What does the Highway Code say about these so-called taxi stages? It does not help that many of the traffic cops are overweight. What is the criterion of recruiting traffic police officers?
What training do they undergo? Is it a lifetime job? A younger well trained force would do a better job in traffic control. Look at accidents in Kampala. Most are avoidable.
Many of the taxis do not have lights, indicators, brake lights, wipers or reflectors! Many accidents happen because oncoming traffic is blinded by the lights of cars whose drivers do not dip their lights or cannot see through damaged windscreens.
Why do the traffic Police and their colleagues on patrol vehicles (whose mandate is still unclear) focus on third party insurance and other such trivialities? The causes of death on our roads are not lack of insurance stickers.
Many of the land rover tow-trucks in Kampala have old official Uganda Police number plates inscribed on their heavily scratched windows! This gives an idea as to who benefits from the multitude of road accidents in Kampala.
Many road users will agree that the most dangerously and over-loaded vehicles are those which carry charcoal, spewing blinding plumes of black smoke as they enter the city. look at the immediate surroundings of some of Kampala police stations at Jinja road, Nsambya, Kira Road, Old Kampala, Wandegeya, to mention but a few. They all have big charcoal depots! What is the implication of this? Your guess is as good as mine. We all strive to get wealthy, but in the case of the police, it would be prudent to do it discreetly.
Antony Mwandha
Kampala