The Northern Bypass was built to function as a high-speed urban corridor, allowing traffic to flow smoothly around Kampala without the congestion and unpredictability of city streets. Its engineering, from sweeping curves to elevated interchanges, assumes that vehicles using it can maintain steady speeds and respond predictably to traffic conditions.

But along came the tuk-tuks. These three-wheelers are a nightmare to motorists sighing with great relief after beating other street traffic and hitting the gas pedals on the bypass. They are slow, take up half the lane with the human effigies who motor them apparently programmed to ignore common decency and respect for other road users.

Allowing tuk-tuks, the three-wheel motorcycles increasingly common in urban areas, fundamentally contradicts the design of the Northern Bypass and exposes motorists to unnecessary and foreseeable danger.

In many developed countries, expressways are governed not only by maximum speed limits but also by minimum speed rules. Driving too slowly on a highway is treated as a traffic offence because it disrupts traffic flow and significantly increases accident risk.

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In the Northern Bypass case, vehicles that cannot reasonably sustain at least 50 kilometres per hour are barred outright. This is not an arbitrary standard; it reflects decades of road safety research showing that large speed differentials between vehicles are a major cause of serious crashes.

Measured against that basic principle, tuk-tuks fail the expressway test. Most are mechanically incapable of maintaining consistent speeds of 50 kilometres per hour, especially on inclines or long curves. On the Northern Bypass, where motorists are legally travelling at up to 70 kilometres per hour (the majority really speed high above that limit), the presence of a vehicle crawling along at nearly half that speed creates an immediate hazard.

The danger is not just the slow speed itself, but the sudden decisions it forces other drivers to make.

Unlike boda bodas, which are narrow and can sometimes keep close to the edge of a lane, tuk-tuks occupy a substantial portion of the roadway. They often consume nearly half a lane, leaving little margin for error. On straight sections, this already forces faster vehicles to brake or change lanes abruptly. On the Northern Bypass, which has numerous curves and limited sight distances, the risk multiplies. A driver approaching a bend at the mandated speed may encounter a tuk-tuk with very little warning, leaving only seconds to react.

That reaction often involves sharp braking or swerving, both of which are dangerous at highway speeds. Sudden braking increases the likelihood of rear-end collisions, while evasive manoeuvres on curved sections can cause vehicles to lose control or collide with traffic in adjacent lanes. This is not reckless driving by motorists; it is an inevitable response to a road environment that mixes incompatible types of traffic.

The inconsistency in policy is glaring. Boda bodas are prohibited from the Entebbe Expressway precisely because authorities recognised that low-speed motorcycles do not belong on high-speed roads. The Northern Bypass may not carry the expressway label, but it serves the same function. If anything, its tighter curves and heavier urban traffic demand even stricter enforcement. Allowing tuk-tuks, which are slower, wider and less stable than motorcycles, defies basic logic.

Arguments about livelihoods or convenience miss the point. Tuk-tuks have an important role in city transport, especially on local roads where speeds are low and traffic is mixed by design. The Northern Bypass is not such a road. Suitability matters. Any motoring machine that cannot safely maintain a minimum of 50 kilometres per hour should be banned from using it, regardless of how common it has become elsewhere.

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We should not wait for a catastrophic accident to force action. We should not wait until a vehicle travelling at 70 kilometres per hour enters a curve, encounters a tuk-tuk occupying half the lane, and crashes while trying to avoid it. By then, the response will be reactive and hollow.

The Uganda Police Force and the Ministry of Works and Transport must act now. Enforce minimum speed standards, ban tuk-tuks from the Northern Bypass, and treat it with the seriousness of a true high-speed corridor. Road safety is not about sympathy or habit; it is about preventing deaths that we can already see coming.