Open Letter to ASP Kasadha: True Road Safety Demands Police Accountability, Not Just Driver Reform

By Juungu Archelaus

The National Road Safety Action Plan, aligned with the Global Plan for the Decade of Action, was designed to develop and evaluate actions that will systematically improve the safety of our road transport system in the country over five years. However, as the plan itself notes, “The preparation of a quality road safety plan is important but will not deliver the expected results if it is not implemented.”

Recently, the Police Spokesperson for Busoga East, ASP Michael Kasadha, published a timely and vital article in the DailyExpress expressing critical views on driver reform. He rightly noted: “If every driver chose caution, the road would look differently by tomorrow morning.” This is an ideal that every road safety activist wishes drivers would embrace.

However, one must ask: what if every traffic police officer on duty chose to passionately perform their duties as required? Is it acceptable that nearly every taxi driver is routinely stopped, only to step out behind the vehicle for private “talks” with men and women in uniform? The National Road Safety Action Plan makes it clear that the enforcement of traffic rules is a key strategic pillar. Yet, current enforcement practices tell a slightly different story.

In his piece, ASP Kasadha powerfully argues: “Roads don’t kill people. People driving without caution on roads kill people.” This echoes a separate article, “A Halfway Equation: Why Training Pedestrians Won’t Stop Road Carnage,” which summarized the crisis by stating, “We must tackle this crisis where it starts—with the behavior of the driver.”

But as a respectable and responsible official, ASP Kasadha’s focus must be twofold. For instance, by writing: “Besides drivers’ caution, we must also tackle the behavior of traffic police officers on duty or create the right incentives for public sector workers to pursue correct goals.”

People who travel daily observe the games played by both parties. It is easy for those who rarely use public transport to complain only about driver caution: seatbelts! Meanwhile, the very officers enforcing that caution rarely even glance through vehicle windscreens to check compliance. No amount of excuse can override Point No. 3 (“Professional Duty”) in Kasadha’s own previous article, “What If We Exercised Greater Caution While Driving?” where he clearly stated that responsible personnel must model the behavior.

If the police lead by example, accidents will drop and our hospitals will breathe. Mulago and regional referral hospitals would finally have ICU beds available for mothers with complications, rather than being overwhelmed by crash victims with preventable head injuries.

Enforce traffic laws with integrity, and change our story.