Issac Khisa
1 July 2009
analysis
Out of the seven traffic lights in Kampala, those in Wandegeya and Nateete do not function whereas the remaing ones, especially on Jinja Road, are many times ignored by drivers.
It's early in the evening and people are returning home from their daily duties from various parts of the city. However, due to the big number of cars accompanied by the malfunctioning of some city traffic lights and the busy road junctions, getting a clear road for smooth driving remains a nightmare.
The procedure of a driver to navigate through the thick jam at the road junction to whichever direction leaves a lot to be desired. It is a survival for the fittest, as the drivers manoeuvre through the jam at whatever cost.
This has given the Kampala traffic officers more responsibility in directing cars. This is exactly what happens at the Wandegeya road junction with no traffic lights but with several traffic police officers, especially during rush hours in the morning and evening. In Kampala, there are only seven traffic lights located at Natete, Wandegeya, Nakawa, Gaba Road/Nsambya By Pass junction,Bakuli crescent, Jinja Road roundabout and the road junction between Jinja and Entebbe roads near Amber House.
However, out of the seven, Wandegeya and Natete do not function, whereas the remaining ones especially on Jinja Road, many times are ignored by the drivers. With the increasing number of cars entering the city, the current modern traffic lights have proved too weak to handle the increasing traffic jam in the city.
According to Uganda Revenue Authority statistics 2007, 95 vehicles were being registered in Kampala daily, bringing the monthly average to 1,900, which number has increased over the past two years. This means that more traffic lights as well as roads need to be improved if not expanded to match the skyrocketing number of vehicles to enable easy driving and movement of pedestrians in the city.
Maurine Katushabe, who drives says traffic lights make driving more difficult. "Our traffic lights in Kampala do not help us while driving, they instead confuse you," she says adding that she relies on the direction of the traffic police officers.
"You can even see the light that indicates pedestrians crossing at the road junction but you see the traffic policeman directing the vehicles to pass, making the lights useless," she adds.
David Eesu, a driver of Nation Couriers, says that sometimes, "When there is a jam, police always directs cars to go straight ahead even when some of them are supposed to turn either right or left."
What they are
Traffic lights, also known as traffic signals, stop lights, traffic lamps, stop-and-go lights, robots or semaphore, are signalling devices positioned at road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations to control competing flows of traffic.
They are installed in most cities around the world and they give the right of way to road users by the use of lights in standard colours (Red - Amber - Green), using a universal colour code (and a precise sequence, for those who are colour blind).
According to A. Albagul, M. Hrairi and M.F. Hidayathullah in their American Journal of Applied Sciences, 2006, the traffic light system consists of four important components: the controller, which is the brain to the system consisting of a computer that controls the selection and timing of traffic movements in accordance to the varying demands of traffic signal as registered to the controller unit by the sensors.
The other part is the signal visualisation or signal face. Signal faces are part of a signal head provided for controlling traffic in a single direction and consist of one or more signal sections. These usually comprise solid red, yellow, and green lights.
The third part is the detector or sensor, a device used to indicate the presence of vehicles.
One of the pieces of technology used today, consists of wire loops placed in the pavement at intersections. They are activated by the change of electrical inductance caused by a vehicle passing over or standing over the wire loop.
The duo adds that with recent technology, there is even the use of video detection where a camera feeds a small computer that can "see" if a vehicle is present.
However, with the absence of any one of these components, the traffic light may not work as expected. This phenomenal explains why many traffic lights in the city do not function as expected, accompanied with the absence of renovation for a long period of time.
Who's is to blame?
The Traffic Transport Consultant Mr M. Tibabiganya however says the traffic lights in Kampala were renovated in 2007 during Chogm but up to now nothing has been done to improve upon them. He says it was mainly intended to serve the Chogm visitors and that explains why some of them have broken down.
"The Kampala traffic lights were renovated temporarily though others are still operational but it was just because of Chogm," says Tibabiganya, adding that the appliances used were imported from Japan but lacks replacements in the country.
He said the equipments that were used in phasing out the traffic lights in Kampala were from Japan and there is no where they can get them. These include the automatic switch, bulbs and the whole system arrangements.
"The traffic lights appliances were supplied by Japan and they cannot be replaced by any other. If it is to be done, then the whole system has to be changed," he adds. Tibabiganya added that there is need to expand the city roads, construct many one-way roads and remove many stages that have been created by taxis.
He said fixing the new appliances is not expensive but because of the government's lax attitude, they are not replaced. However, he did not specify the exact amount of money needed for renovation.
Meanwhile, when Kampala City Council Publicity Officer Hebert Muhumuza was contacted, he said it is the responsibility of the KCC to maintain the traffic lights through the revenue collected. He however declined to reveal how much KCC spent on maintaining the traffic lights and who was awarded the tender of renovating them.
Recently, KCC requested the government to provide Shs400bn for fixing street lights across the city, construction of drainage channels, walkways, improving major junctions with signal traffic lights, greening pavements and repairing of roads among others.
Police spokesperson Ms Judith Nabakooba, says the traffic officers have been placed at every road junction to ease movement of people of cars others than them relying on traffic lights.
"The vehicles entering the town are very many, and because of that, we normally put traffic officers at every junction to oversee their movement," Nabakooba says, adding that some indisciplined drivers contribute to the jam by crossing to lanes they are not entitled to use.
However, on traffic officers breaking the rules, Nabakooba said sometimes it happens to ease movement of vehicles given that the lights cannot sense which direction of the road has the biggest number of cars in order to allocate time efficiently.
She says more traffic lights are needed in addition to construction of more roads, and instilling discipline among drivers, to manage the increasing traffic jam.
It is clear that unless something is done about the roads or traffic lights, the problem will only get bigger.
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