EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

While rising income levels in Uganda have contributed to rapid motorization, road safety management unfortunately has not kept pace. On average, Uganda loses ten people per day in road traffic crashes. Not only do road accidents cause death and a huge economic burden on victims in terms of treatment costs, they occasion loss of productivity of those killed or disabled which costs the country about three percent of its annual gross domestic product. The entire country is served by an unregulated public transport system, with most vehicles in poor mechanical condition coupled with insufficient legislation and enforcement mechanisms. The Ministry of Works and Transport (MoWT) through the Department of Transport Regulation and Safety should specifically address the most pressing structural, organizational, socio-cultural and scientific barriers inhibiting road safety in Uganda. By the power vested in it under The Traffic Road and Safety Act 1998, MoWT should implement this assorted yet rigorous proposal: (i) enforce mandatory annual vehicle inspection, (ii) amend the speed limit from 50km/h to 30 km/h in urban areas (iii) create an electronic Central Vehicle Registry (CVR) for purposes of mandatory vehicle registration, and (iv) review driver training. If implemented, this policy approach will accomplish a substantial reduction in road traffic fatalities/injuries (RTIs) in the short-term, and result in holistic long-term protection of all road users in Uganda.

INTRODUCTORY CONTEXT, PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION AND RELEVANCE

In 2017, Uganda experienced a road traffic death rate of 28.4 per 100,000 people (Balikuddembe et al., 2017). This was quite concerning as it even exceeded the 24.1 per 100,000 people for the African Region and 18.0 per 100,000 people global average for deaths respectively. While countries like Sweden and Norway successfully implemented interventions to reduce road traffic incidents (RTIs), Uganda reached unprecedented death rate levels. Per the 2021 World Health Rankings, her age-standardized RTI death rate was 53.60 per 100,000 people, ranking Uganda #6 in the world (World Health Organization, 2021). Based on the above trajectory, one can deduce that road safety is still relatively underappreciated in Uganda and yet it is an important sustainable development issue. The government stands to make significant public health and economic gains if the reduction of RTIs is prioritized. This prioritization begins with comprehending the existing structural, organizational, socio-cultural and scientific barriers to the prevention of RTIs (Tetali et al., 2013).

EXISTING BARRIERS TO THE PREVENTION OF RTIs

Structural barriers hinder progress towards road safety by virtue of vehicle safety rules, city planning and how roads are built (The Independent, 2020). As a result of not being a vehicle manufacturing country, Uganda relies mainly on imports from Asia for its fleet. It is therefore very worrisome that currently, there is no in-country vehicle inspection following its suspension back in 1998. Fast forward to 2016, the government attempted to reinstate mandatory in-country inspection by contracting Swiss firm Société Générale De Surveillance to ascertain vehicles’ roadworthiness with the aim of reducing carnage on Ugandan roads. However, Parliament vetoed the move and blocked the services on the ground that the proposed fees were too high, further arguing that the inspection mandate ought to be carried out by a government agency. To date, the project has never taken off. Safe to say, the insufficient enforcement of vehicle safety standards is the leading contributor to the prevalence of unsafe vehicles on Uganda’s roads.

Organizational and planning barriers are challenges within the responsible institution that affect its ability to enforce traffic legislation and implement policies effectively (Stevenson & Thompson, 2014). Without a doubt, lack of a lead agency with authority and executive power significantly stagnates RTI prevention. The fact that the road safety mandate in Uganda is split across four institutions, i.e., Uganda Police Force (UPF), Transport Licensing Board (TLB), National Road Safety Council (NRSC), and Department of Transport Regulation and Safety (DTRS), would have been great if there were synergy amongst them. However, the unfortunate reality is that not only are the TLB and NRSC now defunct, there is duplication of efforts and difficulty in mobilizing collective action in the implementation of road safety initiatives. In countries that have succeeded in reducing RTIs, a singular institution with sufficient authority stewards RTI prevention and other organizations are responsible for interaction and cooperation with it.  

Socio-cultural barriers refer to cultural attitudes and beliefs that impact driving behaviour. Uganda’s driver licensing system (training, testing and certification) is dysfunctional (Global Road Safety Facility, 2010). Bribes taken by traffic police from offending motorists have commodified lack of discipline on Ugandan roads. The icing on the cake is motorists’ hesitation to comply with the law unless compelled by roadside visual inspections by police officers who, as mentioned above, are corrupt. Consequently, driving standards in Uganda are of poor quality.

Scientific barriers are associated with limitations in knowledge, research, data collection, and technological advancements relevant to road safety. The MoWT proffers inadequate investment in research and innovation towards implementation of effective and long-term road safety technologies. Consequently, heavy reliance is placed more on rudimentary enforcement, e.g., speed guns, breathalyzers, and express penalty machines, than on digital tools such as speed sensors, and yet the former is significantly less efficient. In MoWT’s defense, there are not enough funds for a more digitalized approach.

A HOLISTIC POLICY RECOMMENDATION

In deciding the best road safety policy solution, five key factors must be taken into account: adaptability, sustainability, short-term impact but long-term oriented, political willingness, and private-sector involvement.

Based on the above criteria, the most successful strategies are those implemented holistically and that embrace the interaction of the vehicle, roads and road user as a system (Peden, 2005). This proposed multi-faceted policy-combination should be implemented by MoWT as follows:

1. ENHANCED VEHICLE ROADWORTHINESS

• Mandatory annual vehicle inspection to reduce RTIs caused by cars in poor mechanical conditions.

Car inspection focuses on roadworthiness, logbook discrepancies, emissions, and illegal modification of vehicles. By the power conferred upon the MoWT by The Traffic and Road Safety (Motor Vehicle Inspection) Regulations, 2016, mandatory annual vehicle inspection should be reinstated. This policy would not only ascertain roadworthiness of vehicles in Uganda but would also usher in a reduction in air pollution (Federation Internationale de l'Automobile Region, 2020), revenue collection through inspection fees, job creation, and a drop in vehicle theft in the country.  In order to counter any opposition from the Parliament, vehicle inspection should attract a flat fee of Uganda Shillings 50,000 (€12) per vehicle similar to Kenya’s inspection charge of Kenya Shillings 2000 (€12.89). Important to note is that private sector actors like Kampala Operational Taxi Stages Association and Uganda Transport Development Agency might raise concerns about failing inspection if the inspection machines are calibrated to the standards of the first-world countries from which they are imported. To counter this, it is imperative that MoWT publicizes information about the readjusted standard that will be used, one that takes into consideration that most of the vehicles imported in Uganda are reconditioned. Another important fact is that Ugandans are a loss-averse people. To justify the inspection fees, MoWT could also consider allocating 30% of the revenues collected to set up simple yet critical facilities such as (i) free tyre-air-pressure pumps at select roadway entrances, which would ensure the most stable and predictable vehicle control, and (ii) free screen-wash drive-throughs at roadway entrances to clean dirty glass, which would improve motorists’ visual range.

2. REVISION AND DISSEMINATION OF ROAD SAFETY LEGISLATION

• Amendment of speed limits to reduce RTIs caused by speeding

The Traffic and Road Safety (Speed limit) Regulations, 2004, provide for speed limits in Uganda with no regard for areas with high pedestrian activity. Uganda’s speed limit is currently 50 km/h for urban/developed areas and 100 km/h for rural areas. The MoWT should amend the Regulations/2004 - Statutory Instrument No. 33 of 2004 to reduce the speed limit for school zones, busy markets, urban centers, trading centers and other built-up areas from 50 km/h to 30 km/h. The speed limit of 30 km/h should be considered for roads in school zones and high built-up areas, especially those in the central business districts of Kampala and Wakiso. This is because such roads have high pedestrian movements along and across the road, and inadequate pedestrian segregation (Mwesigye et al., 2021). This 30 km/h default-speed-limit proposal is one that has been successfully rolled out in major European cities such as Paris, Brussels, and Bilbao and can be easily adopted and implemented in Uganda.

3. TECHNOLOGICAL INFRASTRUCTURAL IMPROVEMENTS

• Creation of a Motor Vehicle Registry to heighten MoWT’s enforcement capabilities

A vehicle registration system is an e-registry of information, i.e., make/type of vehicle and owner/driver details used to add a privately owned/government vehicle to a Central Vehicle Registry (CVR) (Idara et al., 2016). Annual registration of all vehicles, proved by a scannable “registration decal or sticker” on each license plate, must be made compulsory with immediate effect. All vehicle owners must submit a vehicle inspection certificate, motor third party insurance, proof of clearance of all tickets in the Express Penalty system, and a valid driving permit before a decal is appended to their respective license plates. When integrated to the proposed digitalized traffic technology, this CVR will revolutionize enforcement of traffic legislation. Vehicles flagged on violation record cameras would be linked to their respective owners and their penalty status adjusted in real time. Manual enforcement against crimes that cannot be detected automatically, e.g., driving above the prescribed blood alcohol concentration limit, would also be streamlined. Take the example of a police officer who conducts a breathalyzer test and a motorist fails the same: the registration decal would simply be scanned by the police officer and the offense plus its attendant penalty recorded in the CVR. Section 12 of the Traffic and Road Safety Act, 1998, provides for the application for registration of motor vehicles; this policy proposal is therefore already backed by the force of law. An extra advantage is that the government would raise revenue through the collection of registration fees, in addition to the CVR having the potential for preventing fraudulent change of ownership (Adisa & Eludiora, 2021). What would then be required is budgetary allocation to set up the CVR. The downside is potential backlash from the populace over the registration fees that would be levied.

4. REVIEW OF DRIVER TRAINING AND TESTING

• Standardized training and testing

Many fleet drivers depend on peers or self-learning methods and usually graduate from being marshallers (turn men) into drivers (United Nations Economic Commission for Africa & United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, 2018). There is no specific training for public transport operator drivers. Moreover, public service drivers acquire the ordinary driver license and no further training is given to them to drive these vehicles. Accordingly, most drivers in Uganda end up missing out on the crucial theoretical orientation of driver training where most safe driving skills are taught. To note is that in 2004, a national driver instructor curriculum was developed by Government of Uganda for driving instructors. In 2008, standardized driver training curriculum and manuals were developed for learner drivers and in 2014 for motorcycles, buses, and heavy goods vehicles (HGV). However, these three curricula have never been rolled out. This proposal is a call to action for the MoWT to use these already existing resources and roll them out as the mandatory standard to be used at all licensed driving schools in the country. The East African Community curriculum (EAC) for HGV and commercial buses was recently ratified by the EAC Member States and should also be leveraged to improve HGV driving standards. With regard to testing and certification, driver testing is carried out by very corruptible police personnel. By the power vested in it under The Traffic and Road Safety (Driving Tests and Special Provisions for Drivers of PSV and Goods Vehicles) Regulations, 2012, the MoWT should conduct computerized driver testing to ensure effective driver testing. Through this intervention, examiner bias would be eliminated and a standardized examination procedure established.

CONCLUSION

Reducing traffic fatalities in Uganda requires the above multi-faceted policy approach as it tackles the nation’s most-pressing structural, organizational, socio-cultural, and scientific barriers to RTI prevention. Through its implementation, MoWT stands to significantly increase safe mobility for road users in Uganda.

However, it is important to acknowledge the potential resistance from veto players such as the Uganda Police Force and private-sector actors like Kampala Operational Taxi Stages Association. Their concerns may stem from logistical, financial, or regulatory implications of adhering to the proposed measures. Effective stakeholder engagement will therefore be essential to address their reservations and garner support for the proposed road safety initiatives.Top of Form

References

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