In the greater Kampala area, the police have identified some roads where there is a significant likelihood that you will be struck by a drunk motorist.
According to the Traffic Police, among the most dangerous highways at night are Gaba Road, Kiira Road, Jinja Road, Entebbe Road, Kampala-Expressway, and Northern Bypass because of intoxicated driving.
Police Superintendent (SP) The spokesperson for the traffic police, Michael Kananura, stated that officers used closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras to monitor the roads and that their records show it is extremely dangerous to drive, ride, or walk on such routes since so many people drive inebriated, particularly at night.
“The Traffic Directorate has designated high-risk highways where the majority of accidents brought on by drunk driving occur. As a result, we have decided to step up our enforcement against drunk drivers, according to SP Kananura.
Drinking and driving is consistently cited as one of the main risk factors for both road fatalities and injuries worldwide, not only in Uganda. The World Health Organization and the Ugandan traffic police have frequently underlined that drinking increases a driver’s risk of injury or death by impairing their vision and ability to make decisions.
Section 111 of the Traffic and Road Safety Amendment Act (2020) defines driving with a blood alcohol content (BAC) that is higher than the legal limit as an offense. According to the laws for 2023, any alcohol content that exceeds 50 milligrams in 100 milliliters of blood is regarded as high, particularly for a vehicle that is not in use for emergency medical services or public transportation.
Similar to this, when a driver of a public service vehicle or ambulance reaches a blood alcohol content of 20 milligrams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood, they are regarded as intoxicated.
The prescribed breath alcohol level for a driver of a vehicle other than a PSV or ambulance is 25 milligrams of alcohol in 100 milliliters of blood, while that for a driver of a PSV or ambulance is 10 milligrams of alcohol in 100 milliliters of breath, according to Regulation 4 of the Traffic and Road Safety 2023 Act.
Drivers have been cautioned by SP Kananura that Section 111 (1) of the law stipulates that a person guilty of drunk driving faces a fine of up to six million shillings, a sentence of up to three years in prison, or both.
However, the overall commander has the power to impose on the offender an Express Penalty Ticket Scheme (EPS) of 200,000 shillings. The traffic police detained 38 drivers last Friday who were discovered to be operating their vehicles while impaired by alcohol. This information came from operations on the Ggaba and Jinja highways.
“As a result, we are expanding these operations to include the entire Kampala Metropolitan Area, as well as neighboring cities and a few recognized highways. In order to create a profile (database) of drivers who have been discovered to be operating motor vehicles while intoxicated, we have added the taking of biometrics (fingerprints) to these operations, according to SP Kananura.
Over 300 people were left with critical and minor injuries after last week’s road accidents, which claimed at least 87 lives. According to police data from 2022, the number of vehicles engaged in traffic accidents rose by 40% in the previous year.