KAMPALA.
Motorists should brace for new traffic rules which take effect May 15.
The new statutory instrument Number 56 of 2024, dubbed: The Traffic and Road Safety (Express Penalty Scheme for Road Offenders) regulations, 2024, require motorists to pay traffic fines within three days upon issuance of Express Penalty Scheme (EPS) tickets and failure to do so ,will attract a 50 percent surcharge .
Under the old traffic rules which have been in force since 2004 , motorists given EPS tickets were required to pay their fines within 28 days or face a surcharge of 50 percent upon failure to pay.
“Amount of fine (payable within 72 hours after the date of this notice,” the instrument reads in part, adding, “[…] a person who fails to pay the prescribed fixed penalty within the stipulated seventy two hours shall be liable to pay a surcharge of fifty per cent of the prescribed penalty for the offence committed.”
The government plans to use the newly introduced digital number plate system to enable it to track down errant motorists. Issuance of digital number plates started this year, and the government is expected to cover all vehicles in the next two to three years.
According to Ms Susan Kataike, the spokesperson of Works and Transport ministry spokesperson, they ministry together with police are now sensitising the public about the law before its enforcement, adding that “many motorists are happy about the regulations.”
Background:
The EPS for road traffic offenders was introduced by the Works and Transport Ministry in 2002 as an alternative way to penalise errant motorists. Last year, the police issued EPS tickets valued at Shs41.4 billion, with Shs40 billion paid.
According to the Auditor General’s report of 2022, there were more than 528,027 unpaid EPS tickets valued at over Shs100 billion across three financial years.
According to the Traffic Act, the Works and Transport Minister has powers to issue a statutory instrument on the regulation of traffic.
A statutory instrument becomes enforceable once it is published in the public gazette, which was done for the new traffic regulations.
The new traffic regulations target speeding motorists with tough fines.
Once a motorist exceeds the prescribed speed limit in excess of one kilometre to 30kms per hour, he or she will be fined Shs200,000. If the motorist exceeds the prescribed speed limit over 30km/hr, he or she will be fined Shs600,000.
For instance, if a sedan driver clocks between 91km/hr and 120km/hr on a paved highway road, which is an excess of 30km from the speed limit of 90km/her, he or she will be fined Shs200,000.
But if that Sedan driver drives at 121km and above on the same road and spot, he or she will be fined Shs600,000 because he or she has exceeded the speed limit more than 30km/hr.