How traffic jams are killing children mentally, physically

Diana Twebaze, a resident of Nansana and a mother of two, starts her day early, waking up at around 4am to prepare her children for school. Her goal is to beat the notorious early morning traffic jam.

However, despite hitting the road by 5am, she finds the streets of Nansana, a municipality in Wakiso district, already congested with cars, taxis, and motorcycles. This daily challenge often leaves her worried that she might drop her children off late at school.

“We wake up every day at 4am, and by 5am, I am taking the children to school. But whenever we get stuck in traffic, my little girl gets worried about reaching school late. Sometimes, she even suggests taking a boda boda (motorcycle) to get there early! Over time, I’ve realized that the time we spend in traffic jams has affected my children. When I pick them up from school at 5pm, the heavy traffic on Kasubi road and in Nansana means we end up reaching home around 7pm. By then, the children are often too tired to have their supper,” asserts Twebaze.

Twebaze noted that the prolonged exposure to traffic jams has impacted her children; they hardly get enough sleep, have limited time to play, and often experience anxiety when going to school due to the fear of traffic jams.

The ordeal of Twebaze regarding the negative effects of traffic congestion is just the tip of the iceberg that Ugandans face today, as the situation with traffic jams is getting out of hand.

According to information from the World Health Organization website regarding sleep requirements, it notes that toddlers (1-2 years old) need 11-14 hours, preschoolers (3-5 years old) need 10-13 hours, school-aged children (6-12 years old) need 9-12 hours, and teenagers (13-18 years old) need 8-10 hours respectively.

However, with the current trend of ever-increasing traffic, most Ugandans have resorted to reducing their sleeping hours, often affecting children, in an attempt to overcome traffic congestion.

When The Observer reached out to Dr. Paul Nyende, a social psychologist and lecturer at Makerere University, to comment on the effects of traffic jams on people and children, he pointed out that most people focus only on the negative economic consequences that traffic jams have on their wallets, without considering the negative mental and physical complications such as fatigue and stress that accrue when people are stuck in long traffic queues.

HUMAN EMOTIONS

“If the road designs are poor, they have consequences on human emotions. Human emotion is affected by poor designs, which is an element of environmental psychology that looks at how the design of the environment affects the person. That’s why a poorly designed city street will cause frustrations, anger, bottlenecks, and impatience. That’s why people from countries with well-built streets are less likely to be as frustrated by emotions brought about by traffic jams as people who come from an environment where the streets are narrow and prone to traffic jams,” Nyende asserted.

Speaking about the negative impacts of traffic jams on children and adults, Nyende highlighted, “Children suffer a lot when they are stuck in long queues of traffic jams. They might experience stress and have limited avenues to counteract stress, unlike adults who can engage in various activities to revitalize themselves. Sometimes people relax and have relaxation exercises, which children might not be able to do. Sometimes adults seek guidance and counseling to counteract stress which accumulates over time from traffic jams, which children cannot do. The stress experienced by children when they are under traffic jams is bottled up and accumulates.”

Dr Nyende added that prolonged exposure to traffic jams for children can result in increased frustration with school due to lack of enough sleep, leading to anxiety which, in the long run, affects a child’s academic performance.

“Traffic jams can lead to minimized parental guidance within children, and this is due to the fact that parents are mostly concentrating on driving the children to school. In most cases, some parents who let their children be taken by school shuttles very early in the morning in the hope of beating traffic have less time with their children, thus limiting the parent-child relationship and, in a way, the traffic jam situation affects the relations of parents and children,” he asserted.

Furthermore, Nyende noted that the early departure of children aiming to beat traffic leads to disruptions in their sleeping patterns, resulting in disorientation during school hours. Upon returning from school, they have homework which, in most cases, they do from the cramped car stuck in traffic. By the time they reach home, they are normally tired, and this, in the long run, affects a child’s eating behaviors. In most cases, children normally refrain from eating food at home when they are normally tired.

In addition, Nyende noted that traffic jams have a way of affecting people’s marriages. “If one party gets home early and the other comes home late due to heavy traffic, this results in limited interaction among married couples. This will at times result in stress, which some married couples might display toward their partners due to spending a long time in the traffic jam. You have worked in the morning for eight hours and you spend over four hours in traffic. I think you can’t be the same loving individual at home, which ultimately strains interpersonal relationships among people living in a family and results in a breakdown of relationships, loss of marital satisfaction, and thus might result in violence,” he said.

Dr Nyende advised motorists to always buy land in places that are less prone to traffic jams. “It might be good to live in a nice spacious home with a big compound, but in the long run, it becomes useless to stay there when you are always faced with traffic jams that always end up in stress and anxiety.

I often tell people sometimes it’s not worth it to buy land in areas like, let’s say, deep Mukono that is prone to traffic jams. Put your home on 10 acres, wonderful! But the stresses you go through coming to town and going back home can sometimes be so difficult, which at times can result in illness and marital problems. This is due to being under tremendous stress because some people have to wake up at 4am, start driving, take children to school, and then going back home can be a nightmare. When it rains, you can spend four to five hours on the road,” he added.

Nyende also advised motorists to always be patient in scenarios where they are stuck in traffic jams and he discouraged motorists from flouting traffic rules and regulations to avoid further commotion, which leads to more traffic jams. Nyende also encouraged motorists who are stuck in traffic jams to entertain themselves.

This can be through watching a movie, listening to music, or a podcast while in the long jam queues. This, in the long run, helps motorists come back home less stressed and also helps the children with their parents in long queues of traffic jams to be refreshed, which helps them better deal with the frustration that accrues over time due to traffic jams.

When The Observer reached out to the spokesperson of the Uganda Traffic and Road Safety, Superintendent of  Police Michael Kananura had the following to say regarding the ever-increasing traffic jam in Uganda: “The traffic jam is stressful for many people, particularly during peak hours in the morning and evening when people are rushing to work or taking their children to school. Motorists often have specific time limits to drop off their children or arrive at work, leading to congestion on the roads. Additionally, during lunch hours from 12 noon to 2pm, there’s increased traffic as people drive to eateries. In the evenings, congestion rises again as people leave work and pick up their children from school. Even during children’s holidays, traffic congestion persists, albeit to a lesser extent. This trend of increasing congestion is attributed to the rising number of vehicle owners.”
 
UNDISCIPLINED ROAD USERS

Kananura noted that traffic jam in Uganda is mostly caused by the indiscipline of drivers who disregard traffic rules and regulations.

Kananura emphasized that the Traffic and Road Safety Department of the Uganda Police continues to carry out sensitization programs to promote behavioral change among motorists, aiming to mitigate traffic challenges.

Addressing challenges faced by the Traffic and Road Safety department, Kananura mentioned a shortage of manpower compared to the increasing number of vehicles on the roads, particularly noting the overwhelming ratio of vehicles to traffic officers.

Kananura advised motorists to display patience and adhere to traffic lanes, stressing the importance of discipline to avoid exacerbating traffic congestion.

Furthermore, he encouraged motorists living in areas prone to traffic congestion to utilize public transportation like taxis, and during lunch breaks, encouraged walking to reduce traffic congestion.

While traffic jam poses economic challenges, with statistics from the World Bank indicating significant losses for Uganda, there are beneficiaries of the phenomenon.

Hawkers selling various goods and services in Kampala and the development of communities around the country, facilitated by improved access due to traffic congestion, are among the positive outcomes. This includes the establishment of community schools and businesses closer to residential areas, reducing the need for long commutes.