The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A few days ago, there was a heated argument between two drivers and traffic officers manning traffic at the Jinja road junction in the central division of Kampala City. Two drivers came out of their vehicles and confronted traffic officers who had stopped the vehicles driving from Yusuf Lule road for close to half an hour.
The drivers hooted continuously in protest against being stopped for long. The traffic officers succumbed to the pressure from the drivers and eventually allowed the cars to move. What started as a regular intervention by traffic officers the Jinja Road intersection, has now spread to other road junctions on Kira, Bukoto and Bwaise roads.
The traffic lights at the road intersections are programmed to give drivers equal time, in normal circumstances. However, traffic officers often overrule the traffic lights and direct traffic manually, especially during morning and evening hours some things that have raised queries among road users.
“Imagine the traffic lights have released us to move but that traffic woman is still calling cars from Bukoto side. Why don’t they remove the lights and become robots for day and night traffic control? These lights were installed to control this simple traffic,” a driver who was in a Sienta told his colleague in a Spacio at Kira Road traffic lights around 7:45 am on Thursday.
The duo’s conversation attracted other drivers who were seen nodding seemingly in agreement.
The Kampala Metropolitan Traffic Police Commander Rodgers Kawuma Nsereko however argues that the traffic lights on all major road junctions in Kampala and its outskirts use old technology and lack the intelligence to read which road has more or less traffic in order to let vehicles move accordingly.
Nsereko explains that police officers are deployed to manage traffic at the expense of the lights because he says the congestion would be too much on the roads if they relied on such seemingly outdated technology.
He gives examples of when traffic lights show green even when there is no single vehicle on a particular side. He explains that intelligent lights would be able to see the side that has more traffic, and give it more ‘green’ time.
I was involved in an accident on Wednesday night at approximately 21.22hrs at the Nakawa traffic lights. My life flashed before my own eyes. So much to be grateful for. Boda riders need to respect traffic lights and Respect human life. Causing accidents and lynching drivers 😢😭 pic.twitter.com/8CXAHfWuXP
— Ssekandi Gonzagga (@GonzaSsekandi) April 2, 2022
Nsereko cites the example of Bukoto-Kampala road, where long queues that would snake up to the Ntinda intersection, are now rare.
Nsereko advises drivers who get irritated because they have been stopped from moving to understand that traffic officers are always in constant communication with their colleagues and are able to tell which road has more congestion
On the newly introduced box junctions at Kira and Bukoto road intersections, Nsereko says they are intended to control inconsiderate drivers who end up clogging the junctions. Nsereko explains that such boxes would be drawn at all major junctions and drivers sensitised how they work before they enforce penalties.
In her weekly road crash updates, the traffic Police Spokesperson, Faridah Nampiima, attributes deaths and injuries on Ugandan roads to inconsiderate use of the roads including violations of intersections.
During the tenure of Jeniffer Musisi as the Executive Director of Kampala Capital City Authority-KCCA, she asked traffic to allow the traffic lights to do their prompting them to abandon the intersection, which resulted in massive traffic congestion across Kampala.
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