What’s the thinking behind the new traffic speed fines?

The new traffic fines: Road safety improvements vs financial gains

COMMENT | Samson Tinka | Road safety is a multifaceted issue that requires the cooperation of individuals, communities, and governments for it to work. By promoting awareness, enforcing laws, improving infrastructure, and encouraging community involvement, we can work towards safer roads for everyone.

As I stated in my introduction, everyone must be involved, including drivers. It is high time Ugandan drivers woke up and followed the basic rules and best practices while on the road.

We all should be concerned about road safety, because accidents can happen to anyone. The next accident may claim your life or the life of your child, wife, mother, or any relative. It’s actually me and you who make roads safer for everyone. It is not the newly introduced fines or traffic officers who single-handedly are responsible for safety on roads.

Let’s also not hide behind these fines to make a case; respect other road users so that we can both reach our destinations safely.

What’s right and wrong about the new fines?

The secretary in the office of the president, Hajji Yunus Kakande, on May 28th wrote to the police chief, IGP Abbas Byakagaba. He instructed him to immediately implement the traffic digital penalty issuance system. On Saturday 7^th June 2025, the implementation began with some sections of roads within Kampala and Entebbe.

If either of the two officials had consulted a road safety expert, they would have been informed to move cautiously for maximum benefit or impact.

They would have been told that whereas it’s true that most drivers don’t adhere to speed limits and other traffic rules and regulations, it’s important to note that road safety is a combination of many things to achieve road safety.

These include:

Awareness and Education: Public awareness campaigns play a vital role in educating road users about safe driving practices, the dangers of distracted driving, and the importance of adhering to traffic laws. For instance, campaigns like “Safer Driving Starts With You” aim to reinforce safe behaviors among drivers.

Legislation and Enforcement: It is the duty of governments to implement laws and regulations to enhance road safety, that go beyond speed limits. As important to safety are seatbelt requirements, penalties for driving under the influence, the mechanical state of the vehicle, and maintenance. Enforcement of these laws is essential to ensure compliance and deter unsafe behaviors.

Infrastructure Improvements: Upgrading road infrastructure, including better signage, lighting, and road design, can significantly reduce the risk of accidents. Identifying and addressing dangerous road locations is also a critical aspect of improving safety. Ugandan roads, and specifically those around Kampala metro areas, are so bad in terms of both physical markings and signage. Road health is critical in ensuring road safety. Absence of road markings, signage, and lighting greatly impairs road safety. Kampala traffic lights are both seasonal and unpredictable. You will never know when they are on or off. For example, the Serena Kigo traffic lights have been off for the last many months. Entebbe Road traffic lights, be they those in Lweza, Nkumba, Biata Ababiri, Katabi, Entebbe town, or the State House, are on and off. How do you ensure road safety when infrastructure is almost either absent or unreliable?

Community Involvement: Road safety is a collective responsibility. Communities should be encouraged to participate in road safety initiatives, report hazardous conditions, and promote safe driving practices among friends and family. Unfortunately, theft and vandalism of road signage, especially those made of steel, is common, but that can be addressed, again with Local leaders working with security.

Statistics and Goals:  It is important to read what the statistics say so that you prescribe the right medicine. Road safety statistics highlight the ongoing challenges and successes in reducing road trauma. For example, in Uganda, the highest contributor to or causer of road accidents is boda boda. You can not have a million bodas in Kampala metro areas and expect to have safe roads. In Arua city, at the referral hospital, there is a ward named SENKE ward. Senke was a type of motorcycle that was imported from DRC. That ward was named SENKE ward because it used to host boda boda casualties. The majority of accident cases, even in Mulago or Kiruddu in the city, are related to boda boda crashes. Any right-thinking Ugandan traffic safety champion or process owner would be thinking about and implementing a process or procedure for removing or reducing boda bodas from Kampala city centre.  Why keep and blind eye on the actual problem causer and harass motor vehicle owners and drivers in the name of road safety improvement?

Unless the overall goal of the new fines is to simply raise revenue and for financial gain, as a leaked minority report from parliament on how the collected fines will be shared seems to say, an urgent review needs to be made. If the technocrats do not know what to do, the politicians should step in and, at the bare minimum, ask for proper steps to be taken before implementation.

If they cannot intervene, it is election season, and the onus will now fall on the voters in February 2026.

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