Involve local govts to curb road crashes
Wreckage of the truck involved in the road accident at Kikumbi village on the Mityana-Mubende road on August 3, 2024. PHOTO | ENOCH MATOVU
What you need to know:
As a country, we also have new developments such as the Kampala-Entebbe expressway and Northern by-pass, and emerging modes of transport like the three-wheelers; all requiring appropriate speed laws.
Speeding is the leading cause of road crash deaths and serious injuries in Uganda. Speed, and influence of alcohol, are some of the risk factors cited in these crashes.
The 2023 Annual Police Crime Report indicated that speeding contributed 27 percent of all road crashes, followed by careless overtaking at 25 percent, which in itself has a component of speeding as one needs to speed to be able to overtake.
Generally, one can say speeding resulted in 52 percent of all crashes in 2023. Are you also aware that local governments in Uganda are not involved in road safety management including speed management except Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) besides the fact that most or all serious and fatal road crash incidences are happening outside Greater Kampala Metropolitan-on district and city roads?
The current Speed Limit Regulations 2004 is limited with content on existing and emerging speed management global best practices.
As a country, we also have new developments such as the Kampala-Entebbe expressway and Northern by-pass, and emerging modes of transport like the three-wheelers; all requiring appropriate speed laws.
We, thereby, urgently need to review the Speed Limit Regulations for Uganda to adopt global, regional, or even national best practices including incorporation of appropriate speed limits for new infrastructure developments as well as review whether still appropriate the existing speed limits provisions for our different types of roads and vehicles.
We are doing well in terms of policy reviews and updates especially laws on risk factors with the stewardship of the Ministry of Works and Transport and the support of civil society organisations, including development partners.
Other than speed, all regulations of risk factors mentioned above have been reviewed and updated. The review of speed regulations was affected because in 2020 during the amendment of the Traffic and Road Safety Act; speed was moved to the Roads Act, until recently when the Traffic and Road Safety Act Amendment of 2023 returned it to the Traffic and Road Safety Act 1998,amended in 2020.
The consultations, review, and update is almost complete and will soon be gazetted for operationalisation. This review and update is aimed at improving driver behaviour among road users and to develop a safety culture that will protect the most vulnerable road users especially the pedestrians and passengers that do not control the vehicle.
The Act prescribed a fine not exceeding Shs200,000 or imprisonment not exceeding three years, or both as the penalty if a person is convicted of the offence of driving beyond the prescribed limit.
Local governments and urban authorities in Uganda at a consultative meeting on the same, demanded for powers to reduce speed limits within their jurisdictions as opposed to them having to always request the Minister for Works and Transport; citing schedule 2 of the Local Government Act as their basis for the demand. I agree with them.
Give local governments and urban authorities powers to reduce speed limits within their jurisdictions as long as they don’t go above prescribed national limits to complement national efforts towards speed management and safer roads for Uganda.
Omongo Ndugu Executive Director, Uganda Professional Drivers’ Network
