The Minister of Works and Transport, Gen. Katumba Wamala has revealed that government is set to introduce a new penalty system for road users who are responsible for accidents.
He made the revelation while speaking at the 2019 Global fleet champions ceremony on Saturday.
Gen. Wamala also revealed that drivers who cause accidents, will have their permits demerited for every accident they create.
He said that beyond a certain limit, which has to be set, the drivers will have their permits cancelled.
He said the risk of dying on the road remains much higher for low- and middle-income countries than high income countries.
“In Uganda the rate of road traffic death far exceeds the global rate, in 2016 Uganda road traffic fatality rate stood at 29 per 100 thousand compared to the global rate of 18.2 death per 100 thousand,” he said.
He added: “And what do you always hear when accident happens on the road, we have excuses, we have narrow roads, they are small, they are Chinese roads among others,”
He said the government is going to introduce demerit system for every accident or traffic offence one commit on the road for failure to follow traffic rules.
“Your driving permit will be demerited if you reach a certain level maybe beyond 50% then that driving permit will be cancelled, so in that way we think we will be able to bring discipline to some of the bad road users,” he said.
On the issues of undisciplined boda-bodas, he said government will come up with a plan soon to see how the industry can be streamlined.
“We hear that the boda-boda people are being the most undisciplined people on the road, government is moving on this very soon to come up with modalities on how boda-boda industry will be run,” he said.
He noted that government does not have any plan to throw boda-boda people out of business but want to manage them better.
“And actually, when the bill was being passed in parliament, it was very interesting to hear all voices of MPs whether on government side or opposition, each one of them was talking about organising the transport industry and to have sanity in the industry,” he said.