Driving in Uganda

Depends on where you drive. In Kampala you have to be slow, alert and assertive. Elsewhere, it's usually you and bicycles, motorbikes, pedestrians, animals and public or commercial vehicles.  As the road surfaces are usually poor then the priority is avoiding potholes not staying on your side of the road. Also, there is a pecking order and car drivers expect everything except busses and trucks to get out of the way, directly after the horn has been honked and just before being covered in red dust from top to toe.

Aside from that, there are no road signs - well, few - and no addresses, so have a mobile with enough power, a bit of the local language of where you are travelling to and a full tank. Oh, and fill the tank yourself (meaning watch it being done) then you will know what and how much has gone in.

Good thing? Lots of people can do the kind of mechanical repair that can keep you on the road.

You will get there, it'll take time and aim not to drive in the dark - lunatic commercial drivers out and few of them want to use their lights. Enough.

While in Kampala you have to note several things before :-
1- Don't expect sign posts where u need them because the commercial motorbike riders popularly known as bodaboda use them as hungers for their jackets.
2-Few people respect road regulations because during peak hours you are not surprised to see someone driving on the right hand side of road yet it must be left hand
3- Nearly all people employed in public offices have police lead cars to create way for them yet ambulances and fire don't have
3- In case you get an accident and police comes to site earlier expect to be thrown like a piece of blick at the back of a police patrol the same place they use to transport dead bodies found on road sides
4- In case of death in accidents a dead person can take an hour at the road side without any cover
5-Dust on road is normal
6- Minimum traffic lights / robbots

Lwere

It is like India..
a lots of two wheeler and 15 seat bus is quite popular...
Boda Boda or a Motorbike is like a Taxi ride...People do use it as autorikshaw in India.
Small bus ( Matatu) driver sometimes do rash driving.
Accidents are quite common.
Roads are not having divider in between lanes.
You have to be very watchful for driving in Uganda.

One of the most pathetic driving i have seen in the world . Uganda traffic police is very corrupt ,the boda boda guys  does not follow any traffic rules . The roads are very narrow  and sometimes you see a big potholes which can lead to disaster . The public transport merely exists and private taxis are too damn expensive too afford for daily commuting . A lot of ground work is required to be done to improve the systems.

I come form a place where 18-lanes highways are not uncommon where police traffic patrol cars are seen every 5 kms. A city where there are clearly painted lane markers, signs and more signs, and where MOST people "follow the rules".

Living in Kampala and having driven in other developing countries (India, Philippines etc), one thing is certain anecdotally, , I have seen far fewer accidents here than in my home city. - Far less.

I have learned that there is really only one rule - DON'T CRASH INTO ANYONE/ANYTHING.

Frequent/constant use of review-view mirrors are dangerous as the most important scenes to focus on is in front of the driver and every other driver seems to look after his/her own affairs within their field of vision.

Boda boda have occasionally scrapped their side mirrors against my vehicle but that is a bad as it has been.

Oddly, I find it safer driving in Kampala than in the 4th largest city in North America!

Driving in Uganda is nightmare. no  respect to  each other, everyone thinks he owns the road at that particular time. there is no peasant in driving like having respect of pedestrians to cross the road. No signs road and stop sign are just a waste of time. these uneducated  taxi drivers need a lot of education on following and respecting one another when driving. if you what to enjoy driving despite of rush hours come to a white man country. we Africans have along way to go. The Army personals  think there are gods of everything. Shame upon you Africans.

Very good analysis