Safety is more than learning how to drive

Safe driving is far more than taking driving lessons. It is a matter of using your head and common sense.
The first thing you must fix firmly in your mind while on the road, according to Henry Mulyowa, a driving instructor, is that your sense of time goes out of the window the moment you get into a car.
This, he says, can be illustrated by timing how long it takes to get out of a side street on to a well levelled road and then asking someone else in the car to estimate how long you were sitting there.
Side street roads are usually jam packed. They allow low speeds or constant braking, which takes you much time than what you might need to navigate the same distance on a more free way.
Therefore, the sense of urgency, Mulyowa says, does not apply on such roads.
If you leave late and try to make up sometime by driving extra fast to work, he says, you may save two or three seconds but they might come at a cost.
“Some people will break through the lane and drive on the shoulders but the possibility of ramming into a pedestrian or being stopped by a traffic police officer is high,” he says, emphasising that speed and safe driving, especially on urban streets cannot be put in the same sentence.
Driving in urban streets such as Kampala, can be a nasty experience, especially during crush programmes.
During rush hours, according to Ivan Kyeyune, a resident of Seguku off Entebbe Road, he takes more than two hours for a journey that would otherwise take slightly or less than 30 minutes.
“On Sunday [when traffic on the road is light] it takes me about 30 minutes to drive to the city centre. However, during weekdays, I will need to be on the road by 6am. If by 7am I am not on the road then I will spend two or more hours driving,” he says.
In such circumstances, you find a number of drivers leaving their lanes, which creates havoc or accidents on the road.
This, Kyeyune says, is an indication that safe driving and time (rushing) do not mix at all.

Keep a distance
Safe driving has many facets which among others include driving at a safer distance from the driver ahead of you.
For instance, always ensure that you leave a two second space between your car and the one in front of you.
This, simply put, will give a safe distance of more than 176 feet, within which, according to Mulyowa, you can make a decision in case of any eventuality or an emergency.
“It takes the average driver half a second to see the brake lights of the car ahead, conclude that the vehicle in front is slowing down, move the right foot from the accelerator to the brake and depress the pedal,” he says.
Many drivers, according to Mulyowa, pay less attention to the space between them and the car ahead which puts them in danger.
“You have got to leave a safe distance within which you can maneuver without causing harm to pedestrians or other cars on the road,” he says.