200805101241 | Police arrest 600 drivers and impound hundreds of vehicles in Kampala

Police arrest 600 drivers and impound hundreds of vehicles in Kampala

Kampala: Police have arrested 639 drivers and impounded 2,620 vehicles in an ongoing traffic police operations to crackdown indisciplined drivers and vehicles in dangerous mechanic condition in Kampala.

Another 1,134 motorists are yet to be taken to court for traffic offences. In the operation which started on March 31, police also impounded over 1,324 motorcycles, statistics from Traffic Police Department show.

Many of the drivers who committed minor offences were issued 1,806 express penalty tickets, which amassed Shs106m.

Assistant Commissioner of Traffic, Mr Godfrey Aropet told Daily Monitor on Thursday that most cases received were of drivers with forged driving permits, especially drivers of omnibuses.

“Many drivers had out of class driving permits. They possessed permits for saloon cars. But instead of waiting for the required period to get the class of the cars they were driving, they went and forged the permits to add those classes,” Mr Aropet said. He said they are investigating how and where the motorists got forged driving permits.

“So far, the investigations are successful. We have reached good levels in getting the people issuing forged permits,” he said.

He, however, said there is a lot to be done especially on educating boda boda cyclists how to operate on the road.
“There is a lot to be done particularly on safety and discipline. Police will be available to train them.

But so far, they haven’t been organised for such training,” he said. The traffic operation has left many streets and roads decongested, especially on Jinja Road, Kampala Road and Bombo Road.