The Traffic and Road Safety Act 1998 (Amendment) Act 2020 has a lot of guiding information that should be at every motorist’s fingertips. One of the important pieces of information is embedded in Section 108 of the Act. Section 108 Article 4 (C) says a police officer in uniform may arrest without warrant the driver of any motor vehicle, trailer, or engineering plant who commits an offence under this section within his or her view if the motor vehicle, trailer, or engineering plant does not bear an identification plate.

“Where a person is convicted of aiding, abetting, concealing, procuring or inciting the commission of an offence under this section, and it is proved that he or she was present in the vehicle at the time of the offence of which he or she is convicted, the conviction shall, for the purposes of the provisions of this Act relating to disqualification from holding or obtaining a driving license, be taken to be in respect of an offence in connection with the driving of a motor vehicle, trailer or engineering plant,” the section partly reads.

To understand the above section better, concealing your number or identification plate, which is also equivalent to not having a number plate, involves acts such as covering it with promotional materials or wedding stickers. Some motorists conceal their identification plates with foodstuff, such as fish, especially when traveling from upcountry, and those who cover their number plates out of impunity.

Micheal Kananura, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the traffic directorate, says permitting the use on the road of a motor vehicle, trailer, or engineering plant whose registration plates or license is obscured or indistinguishable attracts a penalty of Shs40,000. This also applies to motorcycles whose number plates are fixed so they cannot be easily seen.

Kananura clarifies that if you have a wedding and you wish to cover the number plates, you are expected to use the wedding stickers to cover the number plates for a short time and remove them before dawn. It still remains a traffic offence, only that you cannot be arrested on your wedding day.

“It is illegal to drive a car with covered or obstructed number plates because a number plate serves as an identity card for any vehicle on the road. Besides, some vehicles are used in committing crimes such as robberies or traffic offences, where a motorist could have been involved in a hit-and-run road crash, and the driver removes or covers the number plate to avoid being arrested or tracked,” Kananura explains.

Driving without number plates

In the early morning of July 12, 2023, a traffic police officer on duty intercepted a Mercedes Benz GLE Coupe at Aga Khan Primary School parking yard along Old Gaddafi Road with a female motorist. During the interrogation, the motorist reportedly told the police officer that the car belonged to one of the many owned by her husband before she drove away.

According to Winstone Katushabe, the Commissioner of Transport Regulation and Safety at the Ministry of Works and Transport, this is the high level of impunity where motorists understand what they are expected of but instead disrespect the law.

“If you deliberately drive a car without number plates, it will be impounded at the owner’s cost. Some people buy cars and are given number plates and choose not to display them, while others remove and keep them in their cars or at home,” Katushabe says.

Katushabe urges that it is everyone’s responsibility to report or take photos of cars without responsibilities because these could be used to commit crimes such as kidnaps and hit-and-run incidents.

The case of stolen number plates

In the third week of December 2022 and 2023, thieves jumped into Irene Namayanja’s premises at Kanyanya towards the Christmas holidays. They stole all the number plates of the cars parked inside the perimeter wall. In 2022, Namayanja searched in the bushes outside her home and luckily landed on the number plates covered with rubbish. However, in 2023, her search didn’t yield any results.

“I reported to the police to get a reference number that I used to run an advert in the newspapers to process for a new number plate. Two weeks passed before I could find the stolen number plates, and I had to pay for newly printed number plates. For the time I was on the road, I was driving using a police reference letter,” Namayanja recalls.

Kananura and Katushabe warn that ignorance of the law regarding disregarding the law governing number plate use is no defense. Your number plate should always be clearly displayed and visible, regardless of whether you are driving a private, government, or organisation vehicle.