In September, traffic police in Kampala, Uganda, collected 170 million Shillings in penalties from drivers who broke the law. The penalties were imposed on drivers who were caught drunk or driving above the speed limit. According to the September report, 474 drivers were arrested and fined 200,000 Shillings each for driving under the influence of alcohol.
Additionally, 380 drivers were caught exceeding the speed limit of 100km/h on the Entebbe Expressway through footage from Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras. Like the drunk drivers, these speeding drivers were fined 200,000 Shillings each.
Superintendent of Police (SP) Micheal Kananura, the Traffic police spokesperson, explained that many drivers ignore the speed limit of 100km/h on the Entebbe Expressway. He stated, “Drivers drive too fast on the Entebbe Expressway because they know we don’t have traffic personnel everywhere. But we have our CCTVs, and we use them to capture these drivers and issue them tickets.”
Out of the 170 million Shillings collected, 94 million came from penalties on drunk drivers, while 76 million was from speeding fines. Drunk drivers were mainly caught on high-risk roads at night, including the Northern Bypass, Entebbe Expressway, Jinja Road, Kira Road, and Entebbe Road.
“We also confiscated 569 motorcycles because the owners didn’t have driving licenses, reflector jackets, or crash helmets. This was part of our Fika Salama Extra operations on various roads,” SP Kananura added. Siraje Mutyaba, the leader of Boda boda riders in Kampala central division, mentioned that they have stopped intervening in cases involving motorcyclists arrested for not wearing crash helmets, having driver licenses, or reflector jackets.
“We’ve participated in police sensitization workshops where we’ve educated bodaboda riders on the importance of wearing crash helmets and having driving licenses. Many don’t seem willing to follow traffic laws, and we’ve given up on them,” Mutyaba stated.
Meanwhile, SP Kananura reported that there were 71 fatalities and 287 serious injuries on the roads.
