In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires
"abnormal load"
means a load, which by its nature is indivisible and the dimensions of which exceed the authorised dimensions of the vehicle on which it is loaded or on which it is to be loaded;
"access road"
means a public or private road affording access to a public road or to a highway;
"adjoining land"
means land over which an access road passes or is to pass;
"authorised officer"
means a person appointed under section
42
;
"axle"
in relation to a vehicle, means a device or set of devices, whether continuous across the width of the vehicle or not, about which the wheels of the vehicle rotate and which is so placed that, when the vehicle is travelling straight ahead, the vertical centre lines of the wheels would be in one vertical plane at right angles to the longitudinal centre-line of the vehicle;
"axle group"
in relation to a vehicle, means any number of axles which, for the purposes of transferring load to the road pavement, act in unison or together;
"axle load"
means the sum of the wheel weight loads of all wheels on any axle;
"axle unit"
in relation to a vehicle, means a set of two or more parallel axles of the a vehicle which are so interconnected as to form a unit;
"awkward load"
means a load that is unstable in nature and which, although it is divisible, requires special equipment and safety precautions to offload;
"building line"
means an imaginary line prescribing the minimum distance of any building or proposed building from the boundary of a road reserve;
"calibration"
means a set of operations that establish, under specified conditions, the relationship between values of quantities indicated by a measuring instrument or measuring system, or values represented by a material measure or reference material and the corresponding values realised by measurement standards;
"carriageway"
means a portion of a public road including the various traffic lanes and auxiliary lanes, but excludes shoulders;
"certification"
means the issuance of a written statement by a third-party, based on a decision following review, that products, processes, systems or persons have fulfilled specified requirements or standards;
"community access road"
means a road, path or track linking communities and villages to other classified roads and provides access to administrative, social and economic services;
"concessionaire"
means a private entity that invests in road infrastructure construction, operation, maintenance and rehabilitation and collects tolls to recover its investment;
"conventional tyre"
means a tyre fitted to a vehicle, the section width of which is between 280 mm and 315 mm;
"currency point"
has the value assigned to it in Schedule 1 to this Act;
"cycle way"
means a thoroughfare for bicycles and on which the use of moving and stationary vehicles is prohibited;
"dead man's switch"
means a switch that is spring loaded and held "in" by the driver while the axle is in the lifted position and which, as soon as the driver takes his or her hand off the switch, returns to the pavement and takes up normal loading;
"demerit point system"
means a system that records penalty points to a transporter progressively when incidences of overloading occur, the aggregate of which is to determine the gravity and frequency of overloading;
"district road"
means a road which-
(a)
gives access for the rural population to district administration headquarters, important towns and trading centres and social amenities including hospitals and schools;
(b)
has low levels of motorised traffic within a rural area; and
(c)
is vital to the welfare and economy of rural populations, including communities living in the more remote regions;
"driver"
means any person who drives or guides, or is in actual physical control of a vehicle on a public road, and includes an operator of such vehicle;
"emergency maintenance"
means maintenance needed to deal with emergencies and problems that require immediate action when a public road is blocked, damaged or destroyed;
"environment"
means the physical factors of the surroundings of human beings, including land, water, atmosphere, climate, sound, odour, taste, the biological factors of animals and plants and the social factor of aesthetics and includes both the natural and the built environment;
"expressway"
means a heavily trafficked, high speed and limited access road, which has a dual carriageway with grade separated junctions, and considered the highest grade of road and that may qualify for development using private sector financing;
"ferry landing"
means a specialised docking facility that receives a ferryboat;
"footway"
means a way or path for pedestrians, including a raised walk along the edge of a bridge and on which the use of moving or stationary vehicles is prohibited;
"gross vehicle weight"
in relation to a motor vehicle, means the maximum permissible weight of the a vehicle and its load under this Act;
"hazardous load"
means any load prescribed by the Minister by regulations to be capable of posing a risk to health, safety and property when transported along a public road;
"heavy axle"
means an axle with more than two wheels;
"independent audit organisation"
means an organization approved by the Uganda National Bureau of Standards under the Uganda National Bureau of Standards Act to carry out audits of weighing stations and weighbridges;
"information and communications technology"
means the convergence of telecommunications, broadcasting, computers, storage and audio-visual systems in order to enable users to create, access, store, transmit and manipulate information;
"land owner"
means a person who owns land in accordance with the Land Act;
"legal load limit"
means the weight that may be borne by a single axle, an axle group, or all the axles of a vehicle as specified in Schedule 3 and Schedule 4 to this Act;
"liftable axle"
means a non-powered axle in an axle unit, which can be lifted independently, but which, by virtue of an automatic mechanism, must be lowered to the road pavement when the adjacent axle in the axle unit is loaded to the legal limit;
"Minister"
means the Minister responsible for roads;
"national road"
means a strategic road of national importance which-
(a)
links ports, airports and border posts to each other and to the Capital City;
(b)
links district headquarters to each other and to small towns; and
(c)
is vital for facilitating trade, commercial activities and national integration and the provision of administrative and social services;
"overload"
means an axle load, a load from a group of axles, or gross vehicle weight on a vehicle that exceeds the prescribed legal limit for the vehicle or for any particular part of public roads;
"overloaded vehicle"
means a vehicle that is detected by an authorised officer as overloaded, either with regard to the permissible maximum axle or axle unit weight or permissible maximum gross vehicle weight;
"owner"
means any person who is registered as such in the log book or similar registration of a vehicle and includes, for any vehicle under a hire purchase agreement, any person in possession of the vehicle other than a financier, or any person who is registered as owner under a lien or security document;
"periodic maintenance"
means maintenance, required only at intervals of several years;
"private road"
means a road constructed by any person not being a road authority;
"public road"
means a road specified in Schedule 2 to this Act and any road classified or reclassified by the Minister under section
13
as a public road and includes every carriageway over which the public has a right of way, express highway, footways on either side of the road, drains, ditches, embankments, ferries, bridges appertaining to the road, shoulders and all land not being private property, lying within the road reserve;
"right of way"
means the right to use a public road;
"road"
means a highway and any other road to which the public have access and includes-
(a)
a bridge over which a road passes;
(b)
a ferry as declared by the Minister under the Ferries Act; or
(c)
a ship, as defined in the Inland Water Transport (Control) Act;
(a)
in the case of a road maintained by the central government, the Uganda National Roads Authority;
(b)
in the case of a road maintained by a district local government or urban local government, the relevant local government;
(c)
in case of a road maintained by Kampala Capital City Authority, the Kampala Capital City Authority; and
(d)
a road authority appointed by the Minister under section
4
;
"road construction"
means an activity undertaken to create a road, road pavement structure or road furniture;
"road furniture"
means all fixtures on the road and within the road reserve that are intended to provide information or safety to a road user and includes traffic lights, sign posts, traffic signs, guardrails, marker posts, fences, reflectors and centre-line pads (cat's eyes);
"road maintenance"
includes operations required to keep roads in good conditions and repair;
"road reserve"
means an area declared to be a road reserve under section
15
;
"road side station"
means a facility along expressways, class A national roads and ferry landing sites and includes toilets, bathrooms, parking yards, restaurants, mini groceries, supermarkets, garages and resting centres;
"routine maintenance"
means maintenance, required continually on every road whatever its engineering characteristics or traffic volume;
"service road"
means a road that runs parallel to a highway and that provides access to the property bordering it;
"shadow toll"
means a payment structure where the road user does not pay a toll; but the toll operator collects toll revenue from the road authority in proportion to the number of vehicles using the road;
"super load"
means a load, which by its nature is indivisible and the weight of which exceeds the authorised weight of the vehicle on which it is to be loaded;
"super single tyre"
means a tyre fitted to a vehicle, the section width of which is equal to or greater than 385 mm;
"tandem axle"
means two axles suspended together with a spacing between the axles ranging from 1.2m to 2.5m and interconnected in such a manner that any load imposed upon them will automatically be distributed in proportions predetermined by the design of the suspension system, regardless of the load profile or road condition;
"transporter"
includes an owner and driver of a vehicle and every person acting as agent for the owner, or who is in possession or control of the vehicle;
"toll"
means a charge levied on a vehicle using a toll road;
"toll operator"
means an authority or private entity responsible for collection of road tolls, and may be involved in the construction, operation, maintenance and rehabilitation of the toll road;
"toll road"
means the whole length or portion of a national, district, urban or community access road, declared by the Minster under section
7
(1) or established and maintained by a road authority under section
7(4)
, where tolls are levied and collected from vehicles using the road;
"toll station"
means a structure on a toll road where a toll is payable under this Act or any electrical or mechanical device on a toll road for recording the liability to pay a toll or any combination of such structure or device;
"track"
means a path or road for bicycles but not for motor vehicles;
"traffic sign"
means any object or device, whether fixed or portable, for conveying of traffic warnings, information, requirements, restrictions or prohibitions of any description and includes any line or mark on a national road for conveying warnings, information, requirements, restrictions or prohibitions;
"transporter"
includes an owner and a driver of a vehicle and every person acting as agent for the owner, or who is in possession or control of the vehicle;
"tridem axle"
means three axles suspended together with a spacing between the axles from 1.2m to 2.5m, and interconnected in a manner that any load imposed upon them will automatically be distributed in proportions predetermined by the design of the suspension system regardless of the road profile or road condition;
"unstable load"
means a load on a vehicle which could shift or oscillate within the vehicle when the vehicle is moving or stationary;
"urban road"
means a road within the boundaries of an urban council and which does not form part of a national road;
"vehicle"
means any conveyance or structure which is designed to be propelled or drawn on land, including a trailer, machine or implement of any kind drawn or propelled along a public road whether by animal, mechanical, electrical or any other motive power;
"verification"
means the process of examining, testing, marking and issuing of certificates that ascertain and confirm that the measuring instrument complies with the statutory requirements or approved standards;
"weighbridge"
means a machine for weighing vehicles under this Act, and includes all its associated peripherals and software;
"weighbridge operator"
means any person, including an authorised officer, and a person acting under his or her authority who manages and operates weighbridge equipment or performs vehicle load control under this Act;
"weighing station"
means a check point or installation along a public road for weighing vehicles and includes all facilities found in it.