KAMPALA – Police have relaunched operation Fika Salama, vowing to arrest all drivers violating traffic rules on both major and access routes.
Mr Basil Mugisha, the Acting director for traffic, said they have already deployed enough personnel and increased checkpoints on highways and town service roads to ensure all those flouting traffic laws are arrested and charged.
Mugisha said they are targeting incompetent drivers, vehicles in dangerous mechanical conditions and those driving while drunk. Others who will be arrested, according to Mugisha, are those who will be found flouting Covid-19 directives.
Ministry of health limited public transport to half capacity of the vehicles in order to prevent the spread of Covid19. Private vehicles are also limited to carrying only four people regardless of the size. In addition, all passengers in public and private vehicles are supposed to be wearing face masks.
Traffic police records of 2019 put December and January as the months that registered the highest numbers of deaths resulting from traffic accidents. At least 364 died in December last year while 376 died in January.
Police attribute the high deaths in December to excitement where people drive carelessly and others drive fast to reach their destinations. Others drivers according to police spend time drinking in bars and then drive under the influence of alcohol. For January deaths, police says it is because many people are returning from villages and sometimes children are going back to schools.
Mugisha said motorcyclists shall not be spared too. Riders carrying two passengers, those without helmets including motorcycles that are in bad mechanical state shall also be impounded. Police has said they will not be issuing express penalty tickets but whoever they would caught contravening traffic rules and regulations will be arraigned before court.
Police said not only police personnel dressed in traffic uniform will be on roads enforcing traffic laws but including other units of police provided the personnel are dressed in gazzeted police attires.