Ronald Amanyire: Expert challenges government’s focus on bus route charts as road safety measure

What the report says

Road safety and public transport expert Ronald Amanyire has criticized Uganda’s renewed enforcement of bus route charts, saying the measure does little to address the main causes of crashes. The comments, reported by Nile Post, came after the Directorate of Traffic and Road Safety said 51 buses had been intercepted and impounded within a week for route-chart violations and other transport compliance issues.

According to the report, police said 41 of the buses were operating outside approved routes, while 10 were missing required documents or identifiers such as valid driving licences, driver badges and photographs. Traffic and Road Safety spokesperson Michael Kananura said the crackdown was stepped up after recent crashes involving public service vehicles, and defended route charts as a tool for regulating return trips, reducing fatigue and discouraging speeding.

Amanyire, who previously served as a principal road safety officer at the Ministry of Works and Transport, argued that route charts are mainly administrative and do not directly prevent dangerous driving. He said authorities should prioritize practical safety measures such as reliable speed monitoring, vehicle inspections and checks on driver fatigue. He also pointed to concerns about faulty speedometers, long duty cycles and visible defects on some buses.

More broadly, the dispute highlights a wider debate over how Uganda should respond to a series of fatal passenger-vehicle crashes. While police have recently increased checks on transport operators, Amanyire said enforcement should focus on the condition and operation of vehicles rather than paperwork alone.