Motorcycles provide the fasted means of transport to Kampala City dwellers especially at peak hours when vehicles drive bumper to bumper in heavy traffic on the road. Because of their flexibility and versatility, Boda bodas as they are commonly known can squeeze between vehicles and narrow roads to beat traffic jam such that riders get passengers to desired destinations faster.
However, much as boda bodas come with a lot of ease to their users, they are not void of troubles associated with the behaviour of their riders. The riders are known to ride on pavements, pedestrian walkways, overtake from the wrong side of the road and also ride i then opposite direction.
Most chaotic scenes as observed by our reporter, , however, happen at major Junctions like Jinja Road traffic light and Wandegeya. Riders there park in the way of other motorists driving to different directions hence slowing movement of vehicles. When lights go green for one side to move, Boda Boda riders from all sides rush to cross the road, many a time blocking vehicles from negotiating the junction for almost a minute. A traffic gridlock is unavoidable most of the time.
To deal with the confusion Boda Bodas and sometimes vehicles bring to already busy junctions, Kampala Capital City Authority-KCCA working with police are drawing yellow boxes at major junctions in the city. At Kiira Road junction near Kiira Road Police Station, there are yellow boxes covering the middle of the junction starting slightly after the Zebra crossing.
Rogers Kawuma Nsereko, the Kampala Metropolitan Police Traffic Commander explains that no motorist is allowed to drive into the yellow box unless there is enough space for them to drive to after, outside the box. In essence, no motorist is allowed to stop in the yellow box even when lights go green for as long us they do not have enough space to drive through beyond the box.
Kawuma explains that the boxes shall be launched at major Junctions including Jinja Road junction, Wandegeya, Sir Apollo Kaggwa and Nakulabye traffic junctions among others to control traffic flow in their areas.
Under the express penalty scheme, a motorists can be penalized for obstructing a road or waiting or being left parked or being loaded or unloaded on a road.
Kawuma says that police shall start penalizing motorists who abuse the yellow junctions, but this will be after they have launched the signals and sensitized the public for some months. He explains that together with KCCA. They have started sensitization campaigns using different media platforms such that people are not taken by surprise the moment enforcement on the junctions kicks off.
Brian Yiga, an Instructor with Uganda Driving Standard Agency says that the yellow boxes have been part of the road signs in Uganda and is part of the curriculum given to them by the Ministry of Works and Transport. He however says that the sign has not been in Ugandan roads and hence several drivers might be ignorant about them.
Iga says that the sign is one of the many that they teach to their trainees at the agency but expressed worry that many drivers might not have learnt the sign during driving school because many don’t attend theory classes.
Yiga, who trained as an instructor in London, UK and worked in Sierra Leon, Zambia and Burkina Faso has twelve years’ experience as an instructor. He says that the box provides an effective way to control traffic congestion at junction, instill sanity and avoid traffic accidents at the junction.
Yiga however explains that the box can only be effective when there is enforcement. At junctions, there are zebra crossings, a point where motorists should not cross unless they have green lights. Unfortunately, several motorists especially Boda Boda riders park in the Zebra crossing while others drive through to park beyond the crossing.
Yiga says that to curb such driveing, there should be strict enforcement of the traffic signs and anyone who deviates and abuses the box be fined immediately.
Siraje Mutyaba, a Boda Boda rider and chairman of Boda Boda Industry Uganda, an umbrella Organisation for Boda Bodas riders says that yellow boxes are new to him, despite having operated on the road for more than 10 years. He says many of his colleagues he has interacted with don’t know the meaning of the boxes and many still park in them.
He called upon government to carry out mass sensitization of road users especially drivers to understand what the boxes stand for and how they should be used.
According to the 2020 Annual Police Report, a total of 12,249 traffic accidents were reported across the country, with Kampala reporting 4,649 cases. Pedestrians constitute the largest number of fatalities in road accidents in Uganda, counted at 34 % (1,258) and are followed by motor cyclists, who account for 31 percent (1,146) of the fatalities.
