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200 bus drivers fail traffic tests
A passenger seats next the wreckage of Savanah Coaches’ bus on Mbarara-Kabale Road yesterday. PHOTO BY COLLEB MUGUME .
KAMPALA.
At least 200 bus drivers of the 900 who sat for Transport Licensing Board examinations to enable them get authorisation to operate Public Service Vehicles (PSVs), have failed the tests.
Dr Steven Kasiima, the director of the Traffic Directorate, said the number of eligible bus drivers is less than the total number of buses in the country.
“We don’t have enough eligible bus drivers on the roads. We examined 900 drivers and 200 failed,” Dr Kasiima said on local radio station.
The revelation comes days after a Gaagaa bus and KK Travellers’ bus collided on the Gulu Highway on Monday, killing seven passengers.
Yesterday, another bus belonging to Savanah Coaches overturned on Mbarara-Kabale Road, killing one and injuring half a dozen passengers.
Crisis anticipated
Only 10 days are left to the start of the enforcement of a new passenger service vehicle regulation, which requires all bus drivers to have a badge issued by the Transport Licensing Board, authorising them to operate PSVs. Many buses will be grounded due to shortage of authorised drivers.
If the police also enforce their two-driver regulation per bus for buses plying upcountry routes, a transport crisis is expected.
Fatal bus accidents had reduced by 52 per cent from 51 in 2013, which forced police to relax the regulations.
On Tuesday, the Transport Licensing Board halted the issuance of licences to bus whose drivers did not have badges from the agency.
In 2013, the ministry of Transport and Works issued a new statutory instrument that required all drivers of public service vehicles and those carrying goods to undergo tests to ascertain their competence and criminal record before acquiring badges. Driving a PSV without a badge attracts a Shs200,000 fine.
