A traffic police officer stops a motorist during an operation to nab defaulters of the Express Penalty Scheme on Kira Road in Kampala last week. PHOTO/ ABUBAKER LUBOWA
The Express Penalty Scheme (EPS), which issues receipts for various traffic violations nationwide, is currently being managed manually by officers at the National Traffic Control Centre at City Hall, sources have told this publication. The project commenced in 2015 by then Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) Executive Director Jennifer Musisi and was rolled out last year by her successor, Ms Dorothy Kisakka. The Daily Monitor understands that the system is connected to the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), which, upon feeding into the system one’s vehicle licence number, automatically gets the registration name and other details. The EPS -Auto technology, run by a Russian company, copies the traffic control system of Tokyo, Japan, under the Interesting Transport Monitoring System (ITMS), and uses an Artificial Intelligence camera system to detect motion/speed and road marks.
Multiple sources within the traffic circles who were not comfortable to speak on record because of the sensitivity of the matter, informed this publication that the cameras that are at the different traffic lights have not yet been automated because they don’t have the AI aspect to automatically detect the speed of moving objects. “The control system monitors the various cameras at different centres and once it realises a speeding vehicle, the system signals red and the speeding vehicle is singled out for inspection. They get the details and the ownership of the car and then determine whether or not to issue the fines,” the source said. Security personnel that we contacted to corroborate the story said upon the camera capturing the speeding car, officers manning the control room then enter details in the URA system, then issue the receipt to the registered owner.
The modus operandi, however, is prone to abuse as officers manning the control rooms may determine who gets issued with a receipt and who does not, yet it ought to be automatic. Another source said: “They can tell, for instance, circumstances under which one could have been speeding, which the AI may not differentiate yet. The ticket is issued according to the findings of the camera.” Mr Michael Kananura, the traffic police spokesperson, said: “Part of this information is correct, but you also know that we have just rolled out this technology and we can’t be perfect. We have already received feedback from different stakeholders, which we need to look into and see what we can adjust for now.” Mr Kananura said the new regulations mainly target speeding vehicles exceeding the prescribed speed for the areas, drivers abusing lanes and road markings, as well as vehicles abusing zebra-crossing requirements.
Selective application
On whether some of the aspects of the regulations being used now are not being selective and whether no people are being spared since it is already manual, both the Ministry of Works, who are the regulators, and the traffic police, who are the implementers, say the exempted people are already known. Mr Allan Ssempebwa, the spokesperson of the Ministry of works, says the hierarchy is followed in the order of precedence and some special cases. The Road Safety and Traffic Act provides for the President and his vice, the Speaker of Parliament and the deputy, the Chief Justice and the deputy, as well as the Prime Minister. The other groups the law provides for the right of way are ambulances, security cars, as well as other cars under emergency.
Asked how the new system would be able to detect cars under emergency, Mr Kananura said, “This is what is being looked at, and if you contact me, for instance, next week, I will be able to give you these details.” Sources also indicated that if the officers who are in the control room found out that the vehicle that has been found against the law belongs to a notable person within the government, they have the discretion not to issue a ticket to the person. Under the current provisions, the accounting officer of a department of the Ministry, Department, and Agencies (MDA) will be notified immediately if you commit the offence, then the accounting officer will have to pay the penalty from MDA funds and attach your salary to recover the money.
Motorists and drivers have been caught in a catch-22 situation at many intersections and several traffic light points where, instead of controlling the flow of cars, an officer is deployed to man the movements momentarily. Mr Kananura told this publication that these points should not worry drivers as long as they remain disciplined under all circumstances. The different points of our mini-survey included Wandegeya traffic lights in Kampala, Kampala-Jinja road lights, Mulago Hospital intersection, Kisaasi traffic lights, and Nakulabye lights near Makerere University. During the mini-survey, many drivers were observed to be hesitant about moving ahead as instructed by the officer, insisting that the lights had indicated to them to stop.
The drivers insist that they have experienced situations where they have driven away at traffic lights as instructed by the manning officers, only to end up with a penalty receipt in their emails, opening another Pandora-box of how and where one can cross-check whether what has been charged against is right. Mr Geoffrey Mukiibi, a driver, whom we interacted with at the Nakulabye traffic lights, said, after he was waved to move at the Mulago round-about when lights were signaling red, on Tuesday had been penalised with Shs200, 000 for contravening traffic light signals.
BACKGROUND
The new regulations were brought into force to, among other things, cut road accidents, comply with UN Road Safety Declaration (targets) for 2030, implement the 2025 Marrakech declaration in Morocco, and decongest the city. The 2024 Uganda traffic report recorded 25,107 road crashes, resulting in 25,808 casualties. This represented a 6.4 percent increase in crashes and a 4.4 percent increase in casualties compared to the previous year.
