Road quarrels with boda riders are deadly

Call it a historical mistake but from the way it appears, boda bodas will, even in the so called Central Business District, be difficult to evict.
People, including government officials have been squabbling over boda bodas with suggestions that they should be evicted from the Central Business District.
Granted, some riders act with wanton impunity but many of them serve their purpose quite well albeit in an unsafe manner, especially when they have to weave through jam-packed roads such as Kampala.
Some of you have perhaps, discussed the importance of safety which among others include wearing a helmet, safe riding and the manner in which drivers treat boda boda riders oblivious of their rights.
Whereas it is prudent that drivers get observant of set laws, boda boda riders must be more safety conscious as they, in most cases, end up more hurt in the event of an accident.
According to Ali Kirunda, a specialised Land Rover mechanic in Nsambya, much of Kampala is now a traffic menace, which if you are not a patient driver, will find difficulty in driving around the city.
“Boda boda riders and taxi drivers wantonly abuse traffic laws. They have no regard for the law. You need to always be on the outlook to drive in Kampala,” he says.
This, he says, requires motorists to take precautionary measures, which key among them include avoiding confrontational driving that in most cases turns disastrous.
For instance, because of their size, boda bodas are easily hidden in a car’s blind spot or masked by objects outside the car. Therefore, as a driver, take an extra moment to look out for a boda boda, every time you take a decision on the road be it changing lanes or turning at an intersection.
According to police records, more than half of the fatal boda boda crashes involve a car with drivers taking a confrontational or lackluster attitude.
“Whereas riders form much of the faults in fatal boda [boda] accidents, car drivers are equally to blame for being confrontational,” a 2015 traffic police report reads in part.
According to a road safety analysis published in 2013, many boda boda riders assume that motorists always take notice of their presence on the road, which in most cases turns out otherwise.
Many boda boda riders overtake from the blind side of the road only to end up in an accident.
While riding on a boda boda recently, a rider told me that he makes sure he is “as noticeable as possible and always assumes that the driver does not see him”.
“If I see that they [drivers] are not paying attention, I always anticipate the worst. I indicate or beam my light to notify them,” a one Kawooya at a boda boda stage on Dowinton Road, Kampala, says.
While driving, a boda boda will appear much further inside a side mirror than it actually is.
This makes it difficult for the driver to judge the actual speed at which it is riding.
Therefore, as a motorist, always be more careful and keep constant checks in the side mirrors for any oncoming rider in an intersection or a road turn. Besides being careful, allow more distance of about three or five seconds and always be alert because most boda boda riders are not trained and have no regard for traffic laws.
They rarely indicate and for those who do they turn off even before reaching the intersection.
Even when they have turned the indicators continue to indicate because most of them are not self-cancelling which will confuse motorists.

Be more careful
Unlike motorists, as a matter of fact, a boda boda rider will maneuver through slow traffic.
This, they do with a lot of inconvenience to other road users by riding onto pavements and through one-way carriage.
However, as a driver, when a boda boda is in motion, see more than the boda boda. On that motorcycle there is a rider and perhaps a passenger, who you must at all cost protect from harm.
A boda boda is a light automobile. It will easily weave off the road at the slightest contact with a car.
Therefore, take more precaution. However, it should not be one-way traffic.
Boda boda riders must take more precaution and observe traffic laws short of which must be reprimanded by police for breaking the law.