Police orders bus owners to use buses within the prescribed time and route charts
According to statistics by the Police’s Directorate of Traffic and Road Safety, from 1st January to 8th January 2023, 340 accidents were registered. Out of these, 59 were fatal, 175 serious, and 106 were minor.
Police are renewing traffic orders requiring bus owners and drivers to operate their buses within the prescribed time which is allocated on the route chats.
Faridah Nampiima, the Traffic Police spokesperson, told a press conference in Kampala on Monday that no bus will be allowed to operate beyond the time as indicated on the route chart.
Some drivers exchange night shifts and bring their buses to operate during the day yet on the route chart they were allocated to operate at night. Some buses are sent on a different route different from that as assigned on the chart.
“Those route charts help us to monitor the movement of the bus. It has the time at which you are supposed to be where. If your bus is leaving Kampala at 8 am, that means if it’s travelling to Mbarara, it has to arrive at midday,” she said.
“So if you arrive in Mbarara before the time on the route chat, it will be a sign of overspeeding and we will arrest you,” she noted.
According to statistics by the Police’s Directorate of Traffic and Road Safety, from 1st January to 8th January 2023, 340 accidents were registered. Out of these, 59 were fatal, 175 serious, and 106 were minor. These accidents led to the loss of 79 lives, 245 sustained serious injuries, and all accidents were attributed to reckless driving.
To avert this, the Directorate has reinstated driver badges for easy tracking and monitoring of bus movements on the road. Nampiima said all owners of bus companies should provide details of their bus drivers, to the ministry of works and transport.
The exercise which started on Friday 6th January last week will last for only one week and thereafter no driver will be allowed to operate a bus on the road without the badge.
“Every bus driver driving on the road will be expected to display his photo, a copy of the badge which will have his photo, his name, driving license number and the classes he has. This will help traffic police to trace the movement of buses and stop return journeys,” she added.
Nampiima added that each bus company must have an independent route chart since many have been sharing one particular route chat.
