AUTOMATE DRIVER LICENSING TO END UGANDA ROAD CARNAGE

It starts, as it too often does in this country, with twisted metal and wailing sirens. Two buses, an Isuzu and a Tata, collided head-on along the Kampala–Gulu highway, killing sixty-three people on the spot. The news travelled fast — from the police’s terse press statement to the morning talk shows and WhatsApp groups filled with images too horrific to share. For a few days, Uganda mourned. Then, as we always do, we moved on.

But we shouldn’t.

Because the real tragedy on our roads is not just the crashes themselves, but our acceptance of them as normal. According to police data, more than 5,000 Ugandans died on our roads last year, while another 17,000 were left seriously injured. That’s a seven percent rise in deaths and a staggering 36 percent rise in serious injuries compared to the previous year. On average, fourteen people die every single day on Uganda’s roads — the equivalent of a full taxi of lives wiped out before sunset.

Now think about that. Every day, fourteen families begin new lives defined by loss. Every day, fourteen breadwinners vanish from the economy, leaving behind dependents, unpaid loans, and unfinished dreams. And every year, according to studies, road crashes drain an estimated 4.4 trillion shillings from the economy — about five percent of our GDP. That’s more than the national budget for agriculture or education. We are quite literally driving ourselves to poverty.

The official reports like to call it “human error.” It sounds polite, even inevitable. But when over 80 percent of crashes are caused by human error, what it really means is that we have an entire licensing system that has failed to separate skilled drivers from lucky ones...

Take a boda-boda rider weaving through traffic with a passenger, or a bus driver barreling down a narrow tarmac at 120 km/h — you’ll often find they have licenses that were bought, not earned. The testing process itself is still largely manual, with all the weaknesses that come with it: corruption, inconsistency, and human bias. A few thousand shillings can turn a failed test into a pass. A nod from the right officer can put an incompetent driver on the road.

We have made it easier to buy a license than to earn one, and now we are paying for it — in blood, broken limbs and national income.

 The real scandal isn’t that Ugandans drive badly — it’s that the state allows them to. The current testing regime, in its paper-and-pencil simplicity, was designed for a different era. It can no longer guarantee competence in a country where traffic has multiplied, vehicles have become faster, and the stakes far higher.

A modern transport system cannot be built on guesswork. And yet, every day, thousands of new drivers are churned out by an opaque, corruption-prone system that tests neither knowledge nor reflex. The result is visible in every roadside wreck.

The solution is obvious, but long delayed: automation. We need to take the testing process out of the hands of corruptible humans and hand it over to machines that don’t take bribes or play favourites.

Today fully automated, intelligent driver testing systems that evaluate drivers scientifically rather than emotionally are available.

It starts with something as simple as ensuring that every applicant passes a genuine physical fitness test. Machines can now assess vision, color perception, hearing, reflexes, and coordination — no need for dubious doctor’s letters.

The theory exam, too, can be digitized — a computer randomly generating questions on traffic law, ethics, and road safety, complete with facial recognition to prevent impersonation. And the practical road test? That’s where the real magic happens. Smart vehicles equipped with sensors, cameras, and GPS can measure precision in braking, reversing, hill starts, and cornering with an accuracy no human examiner can match. Every maneuver is scored automatically and transmitted to a central command center that oversees all testing centers across the country in real time. No envelopes. No favours. Just results.

For the first time in a long time, a Ugandan driver’s license would mean what it’s supposed to mean — that the holder actually knows how to drive.

But this is about more than safety. Automation will create jobs for ICT technicians, data analysts, and exam supervisors. It will reduce government costs, improve transparency, and even generate revenue through testing fees. Uganda could become a regional center of excellence for driver testing, setting a benchmark for East Africa.

Most importantly, it would restore public trust. Imagine renewing your license knowing the process is fair, efficient, and incorruptible. Imagine the ripple effect of competence — fewer crashes, lower insurance costs, healthier workers, and a calmer, saner traffic culture.

This is not a futuristic fantasy. The technology exists today. What’s missing is the will to implement it.