Saturday, September 2, 2017

Ministers, Judges Do NOT Have Right of Way - Period!

According to current affairs specialist Angelo Izama, when it comes to who has right of way on our roads, he has this to spew: “Vehicles carrying cabinet ministers have no right of way on Ugandan roads neither do those carrying members of parliament or a more familiar sight, bullion vans transporting cash to and from financial institutions.”
“The only vehicles carrying government officials who have a right of way are M7s and his vice, Edward. The law also allows ambulances and other vehicles responding to emergencies like police and fire brigade.” His source of information is Uganda Police, who supposedly administer law and order in the land.

That said, there is Minister of State who gets whizzed round the Kabalagala, Muyenga and Bunga area code in a brown Toyota Land Cruiser and whose driver is the utmost road irritant. I can’t tell you who Minister of State is – not because it’s unethical to shamelessly expose him in this column, but because the windows are deeply tinted, it’s next to impossible to peer in and distinguish who it is. Anyway, his car registration number is UG 0218D.

Minister of State’s Driver with I guess, the consent of State Minister believe they have every right to tear up all road traffic regulations since road traffic laws were established. The Land Cruiser mounts the pavements if not, blares its horn and flashes its blue and red grill lights so you get out of the way. Of course I stubbornly refuse which has resulted in the font passenger door being flung open with Bodyguard jumping out and telling me and other road users to get out of the way since Minister of State needs to get where he is going.
And guess where there were going? Not to attend urgent matters of state, but to TMT supermarket next to Wine Garage in Muyenga. I thought of stopping to unleash some assurances, but save for having had a bad day and a headache coming on, I let it slide.


Lady Judge was being driven to work when her Mitsubishi came into contact with me at the turning into Railway Road from Access Road. Despite my having the right of way, her driver wouldn’t have any of it and forced life to overtake. And he knocked Boda over. I was so out of my ride in a flash, knocking on her window and telling her the accident was caused by her drivers reckless driving but all she could muster was giving me ‘the stare’. 
PM, lives somewhere in Munyonyo. Everybody who uses Ggaba road knows that during rush hour, the most dangerous junction is that in Soya at Naduli’s trading centre except of course and wait for it, wait for it - PMs Driver and convoy. Right from Kansanga, they hurtle past the bumper-to-bumper traffic at terrifying speeds with sirens blaring and unknown to them, leaving a number of accidents in their wake as panic stricken drivers knock into each other in a bid to give the convoy way.
Transgressing slightly, have you noticed that most of the ambulances with flashing lights and sirens blaring during the evening rush hour are always headed to the Old and New Taxi Parks - not to go and pick up Patient, but but because they are dropping off Staff?


The only time we tend to hear sirens blazing from ambulances or police cars, is when there is a traffic jam. We never hear a siren at 2:00am or 4:00am. But we hear them between 7:00am – 9:00am; 12:30pm – 2:30pm and 5:00pm – 8:30pm that I am tempted to think that the first thing Driver of ambulance, police pick up or any ride that’s compacted with sirens and flashing lights gets taught, is how to use them when stuck in a traffic jam.               
Photos: Chimp Reports, New Vision, Daily Monitor

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