How do you join the road?

Joining the road is one of the sensitive things that most, if not every motorist should always be keen about. If you join the road anyhow, lives could be lost.
Samuel Eyangu says: “If I am rushing somewhere and I want to join the main road, I flash lights at a motorist as a way of asking for permission to join. If they flash back, it is a signal that they have allowed me to join the road. If they do not, I wait until there is no oncoming vehicle,” Eyangu says.
For Winfred Sande, joining the road is only when she is sure that her vehicle will not be rammed into by another speeding vehicle. “I take time to observe and understand that there is no vehicle on both sides of the road. I do not forget to use my indicators to alert other drivers of where I am going,” she says.

How to join the road
Dr Steven Kasiima, the director of Traffic and Road Safety Directorate, advises that when you are joining a road from a junction, you first stop to be sure that there is no oncoming vehicle from both sides.
“Whenever there is a junction or feeder road joining the main road, you must be sure that the road is safe. You have to wait until you are sure the road is safe for you to join to avoid other motorists ramming into you,” Kasiima advises.
However, motorists on the main road must also give respect to those joining. Once you are on the main road or when you know that there is a junction joining the main road, there are sign posts in most cases. You have to reduce speed because a vehicle or motorcyclist can emerge from the same junction at any time.
There are motorists, who, after joining the road from a junction or feeder road, want to gain speed instantly and go into another lane. Understand that speed increases gradually, not instantly after joining the road.
“If they are two lanes and you are joining the road, you must keep left, not right, unless you are overtaking to allow faster vehicles overtake you from the right. After you have overtaken, go back to the left lane,” Kasiima advises.

Lane and roundabout indiscipline
Dr Kasiima says lanes are frequently abused at roundabouts. For example, if you are driving from Old Port Bell Road heading to Wampewo Avenue or Hotel Africana, you cannot be in a lane going to the city centre or one that goes to Jinja Road. You ought to be in the middle lane.
The extreme left hand lane is meant for motorists going to Mukwano or industrial area while the inner lane next to the roundabout is meant for motorists going to Nakawa. If you are in the inner lane and you are going to Wampewo Avenue, it means you will manoeuvre to join the middle lane.
“When you manoeuvre, you are blocking proceeding traffic. Wherever we have roundabouts, there is lane indiscipline and motorists do it willingly because they want space, not knowing they block traffic flow. A minute’s confusion will cause traffic jam for hours,” Kasiima observes.
“Motorists always want to join moving lanes. After realising that they have joined the wrong lane, they struggle to rejoin their initial lane and end up causing traffic jam. Minor accidents in Kampala happen because of lane indiscipline. From nowhere, a motorist turns to where they think is right and when the one behind them is not prepared, they ram into each other,” he adds.

Indiscipline on climbing lanes
Climbing lanes are meant for vehicles that are going up the hill. If there is a third lane, two are for climbing and one is for sloping vehicles. Once you are on a climbing lane, the one in the middle is for overtaking. Immediately you overtake, you must go back to the outer lane and leave the middle lane vacant because it is only used when overtaking.
“Unless you are overtaking, you must keep left as long as you are in Uganda. What happens is that even if there is no vehicle, motorists keep in the middle instead of keeping left. This means that the motorist who intends to overtake does so in the third lane meant for oncoming traffic and ends up causing head-on collisions,” Kasiima explains, adding that the recent Kampiringisa accident that killed 26 people along Masaka Road was due to disrespect of climbing lanes.
Some motorists overtake on climbing lanes when descending, which is wrong. There are also those who overtake from the left because the motorist who overtook did not go back to the outer (left) lane and created space for one to overtake from the left.Because some are absent minded, from nowhere, when you remember to go to the outer lane, you end up knocking the one who was overtaking from the left.
At roundabouts
If for example you are driving towards the Garden City roundabout from Crested Towers heading to Jinja Road and there are three lanes going down, if you are in the outer (extreme left) lane, you are supposed to drive towards the Golf Course or Wandegeya. If you are in the middle lane, you are ethically supposed to drive to Nakawa or Jinja Road.
If you are in the inner lane, next to the roundabout, you are supposed to be going to Nsambya or back to the city centre.
“Because you are in the outer lane, you should not drive out of it and go to the middle lane and then manoeuvre back to go to Wandegeya. The motorist on the inner lane next to the roundabout is the one supposed to approach the roundabout first,” Kasiima clarifies, adding that if motorists in Kampala observed proper lane etiquette, traffic jam would reduce by an hour.

Penalty
According to Dr Steven Kasiima, the director of Traffic and Road Safety Directorate, much as there is no penalty for lane indiscipline, it is considered reckless driving. It exists in different forms such as overtaking recklessly and not complying with road rules. If you are caught, Kasiima says you are given a Shs100,000 penalty receipt.