Road traffic regulation in Kampala staggers on
The Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area (GKMA), whose population is slightly over 3.5 million, faces terrible traffic congestion, road rage, and frequent road crashes. Kampala’s transportation system largely depends on privately owned vehicles providing personal and public transportation, from motorcycles to large buses. Operating mainly informally, the varying modes of transportation are deeply and extensively interdependent. They include low-capacity transportation services such as porters, carts, bicycles, motorcycles, tuktuks, cabs, matatus and pickups. They offer services ranging from carrying travellers’ goods across the road to moving busloads of people to and from Entebbe.
Kampala’s road network, which is shared by all kinds of transporters, pedestrians, cyclists, and private car owners, is largely under construction. Out of the 2110 km road network, only 646 kilometers are paved, with only a few roads having pedestrian sidewalks. Much of this road network has open roadside ditches, terrible potholes, and poorly maintained manholes, all of which cause road crashes and often claim pedestrians’ lives.
The large informal transportation sector, coupled with the poor road network and inconsistent enforcement, puts traffic regulation to the test. The situation favors corruption, recklessness, road rage, and frequent road crashes. During the just concluded Road Safety Week, Mulago Hospital alone was reported receiving up to 1,300 patients monthly with injuries sustained from road crashes. They also recorded 995 motorcycle-related road crash deaths in 2021.
These terrifying numbers should urge us to take action against road crashes — but before we get there, let’s dive into a few facts to understand why previous action has yet to solve the problem.
- Drivers’ training is treated as optional
“But Geofrey! Why did you waste your time going through the driving school just to get the driving permit? Why didn’t you just pay 500,000 Ugx to somebody who can just bring the driving permit to you?” A guy said after realizing that I was taking driving lessons at a certain driving school.
“For me I just paid 500,000 Ugx and got the permit. When I get someone with a car, I’ll learn how to drive.” A lady said during one of my usual road safety interviews with road users. Though there are no public statistics on how many people obtain their permit this way, the above claims point at the likelihood that it is a common vice. It also reveals that many people are getting driver training from unqualified trainers. This requires reform from the government.
2. Traffic lights are decorative, not directive
There are lots of traffic lights in Kampala that often get either blacked out or ignored. At one time there can be electricity load-shedding putting the traffic lights out of use and at another time, active traffic lights are rendered useless in the presence of traffic officers who opt for manual management of traffic flow. Boda bodas also often take advantage of their high maneuverability to ignore the lights and weave through traffic as best they can. This happens quite often, and it points at the need to investigate the extent to which it can contribute to the common defiance against the traffic lights.
3. Impunity overrides enforcement
Traffic police are always on the streets to enforce safe road usage and orderly traffic flow. However, respect for police officers is low, resulting in many people who view police orders as optional and can do anything to suppress the enforcement.
It is important to understand that the right of way is defined and applied differently for every class of people, but it is also important for some people to understand that classism and expression of contempt of the arrangements set by traffic police only causes more chaos and danger on the streets.
4. Third party insurance is never trusted
The legal procedure of claiming compensation after road traffic incidents requires proper documentation, cooperation of all parties involved, and can consume a lot of time. Any fault in the procedure may make the claim unsuccessful. While it is known that bodabodas and matatus are the most common evaders of third-party insurance, it is important to remember that the majority of boda and matatu operators are unable to follow through to compensation due to knowledge limitations and sometimes failure to provide the required documents.
Quite often, bodas and matatu operators rely on a shouting match to determine who-pays-which-amount and prefer settling their disputes on the roadside without the paperwork and time waiting in offices. They know they have no chance at insurance. Arrangements to guide road users through the processes would help them trust the services of third-party insurers.
5. Crackdown on errant road users often miss the target
Whenever the police crackdown on traffic offenders, it often turns into an extortion bonanza where the policemen use the usual laissez-faire attitude towards traffic regulations for their own benefit. To road users, the sudden crackdowns can reinforce the idea that regulations are simply policemen’s way of earning and the errant road users prepare to give them money instead of abiding by the traffic rules.
6. Policy makers are lost in conflicts of bureaucracy.
Banning bodaboda is one of the pending decisions especially in the Central Business District. Other options include counting, registering and training boda riders plus demarcating stages, introducing division-specific reflective jackets, enforcing use of helmets, and making matatus pick and drop passengers in specific spots. Much as these could be good ideas, their implementation has always faced resistance from various stakeholders especially regarding the procedure of implementation and enforcement. Politicians and business leaders are often covertly funding boda boda groups and undermining government regulation, creating havoc in the market.
7. The general population is not willing to forgo bodaboda
While the government points at banning bodaboda, it is important to remember that the convenience offered by bodaboda provides key services to business operations and overshadows the common troubles associated with motorcycles. Every time the government puts restrictions on boda riders, the rest of the population feels the pinch. They find it hard to obey the restrictions and end up finding a way around the rules. Amidst the restrictions, everyone from the poor to the privileged and powerful continue to use bodaboda, making enforcement inconsistent and ineffective.
8. Boda riders play hide and seek with the regulations
Boda riders generally learn how to operate motorcycles by the help of friends and relatives, not driving schools. These informal teachers rarely teach them about road traffic rules. Instead, they teach them how to escape extortion, how to protect the motorcycle and how to get customers and survive in the city. They know that the police are always on the hunt for them in pursuit for money and they are not willing to easily give away their hard-earned money, so they often drive to escape. When they are caught, they are more willing to pay directly to the policeman than to follow the more expensive official procedure. Quite often they crash trying to escape. But they seem to say, “Come what may, we are here to work!”
Moving on
Going forward, it is important for public transport operators’ associations to take on the responsibility of guiding their members through all necessary road safety arrangements. Another helpful intervention that would change the situation is cooperation between state authorities. Finally, boda boda associations must all be represented at the table. A recent meeting of boda boda leadership organized by the KCCA and RCC-Lubaga, for example, appointed two boda boda representatives and shut out several other large boda boda associations — prompting a furious reaction on WhatsApp groups, and promises to not engage with the KCCA-backed leadership. It seems for the meantime, political ambitions and fragmented organizations seem doomed to keep traffic regulations and reform attempts powerless.
