Was it bad driving or a simple case of arrogance?
On December 1 I hit the road to Ruhanga Sw Uganda. My Auntie with whom I was staying here in Uganda didn’t want me to go by public transport because for some reason the roads become increasingly unsafe in the days leading up to Christmas. She wanted me to wait so I could travel with the rest of the family on Friday 3rd Dec. But it was end of term for the girls on 2/12/10 as well as end of their first year at school, we also had to distribute mosquito nets whilst we had everyone gathered. I had to go.
My Auntie suggested that I go with the Post Office bus and she duly dropped me off at the central post office buildings in Kampala. I bought a ticket and waited, 2 hours later the bus turned up, apparently the driver had had to stop to get the windscreen replaced
The bus stopped several times along the way, to drop and pick up mail from several locations along the route. I observed that that we that had joined the bus in Kampala had official receipts unlike those that joined along the way and in some cases they appeared to be paying more. I couldn’t work out whether this was something the driver and the postman (also on board) did with or without the full knowledge of the Post office but it seemed like a great way for them to earn money on the side.
As the bus was late that morning the driver appeared to be driving ins a such a way as to make up a time. Worryingly he frequently answered calls on his mobile phone, send text messages, as well as eat whilst driving ( I was in a seat behind him so witnessed all this)
45 minutes from my destination, he decided to overtake a Long vehicle in a place where the road was especially narrow, without allowing it any room at all, Before I could blink he had hit the transit good vehicle, lost a door, a wing mirror, and smashed in the newly replaced windscreen and was struggling to control the bus on wet road and I could see our lives quite literary in the man’s hands. Ironically right before this a man sat next to me had praised the driver for having made up the lost time.
He eventually managed to control the bus and bring it to a stop, the transit goods bus was nowhere to be seen. The driver blamed the postman for not having locked the bus. According to the driver the door had swung open making it easy for the transit good vehicle to drive into it. I had seen the Postman lock the door so this was far from the truth. Having picked up the door we drove to the nearest Police station to file a report.
As all this was going on, we the passengers talked about what had actually happened, those next to me and the driver as such agreed that he didn’t allow enough space between him and the other vehicle and the one passenger put it down to the arrogance that some drivers acquire after many years on the road.
There was a debate too if it the trip was necessary or not. Some felt to was so we could be given permission to continue on our way on the same bus and besides without the Police report we would only be stopped several times by the Traffic Police, whilst some felt it was not necessary at all. The Postman went off with the driver to ensure that he was not blamed for the accident (not locking the door) whilst another man joined them to ensure that the Police were simply paid
and not given any details so we could be on our way.
They returned with a Police woman who took photos of the bus and made some notes gave them a form and sent us on our way with the parting words BE CAREFUL!
I can’t tell you how relieved I was to get off that bus!
About IdaHornerFounder of Ethnic Supplies a social enterprise working to alleviate poverty amongst East African women involved in textile and handicraft production. Managing Editor of Africa on the blog
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OMG, Ida you are lucky to be alive! I can’t believe he was on his phone and driving at the same time!
oh absolutely, especially whilst driving something like a bus. I overheard the postman say that their boss who happens to be a woman would hit the roof when they returned to the depot!
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