MPs, activists in drive to make Uganda’s highways safer

MPs have launched the implementation of the road safety legislative action plan as an effort to address legislative issues regarding the institutionalized management of road safety

What you need to know:

  • The MPs under their umbrella body, the Parliamentary Forum For Road Safety (PAFROS) say the campaign supported by World Bank’s Global Road Safety Facility, Ministry of Work and Transport and Safe Way Right Way is meant to implement safer roads and mobility, safer vehicles and road users and post-crash response.

MPs have launched the implementation of the road safety legislative action plan as an effort to address legislative issues regarding the institutionalized management of road safety.
The MPs under their umbrella body, the Parliamentary Forum For Road Safety (PAFROS) say the campaign supported by World Bank’s Global Road Safety Facility, Ministry of Work and Transport and Safe Way Right Way is meant to implement safer roads and mobility, safer vehicles and road users and post-crash response.

In Uganda, fatal crashes rose from 500 in 1991 to 3,503 in 2016, representing a seven-fold increment over period of 25 years.
A new World Bank study revealed that reducing road traffic deaths and injuries could result in substantial long-term income gains for low- and middle-income countries.

Using detailed data on deaths and economic indicators from 135 countries, the study estimates that, on average, a 10% reduction in road traffic deaths raises per capita real GDP by 3.6% over a 24-year horizon.
The study found that countries that do not invest in road safety could miss out on anywhere between 7% and 22% in potential per capita GDP growth over a 24-year period.

This justification requires policymakers to prioritize proven investments in road safety and provides the bedrock for the World Bank intervention through the Global Road Safety Facility.
The who global road safety status report - 2015 puts annual road traffic fatalities in Uganda at over 10,000, it is abundantly clear that road safety is a significant and rapidly growing public health and socio-economic burden… the health management information system data indicates that the public health system is overwhelmed with road traffic crashes which are listed among the 10 top leading causes of hospital deaths in the country.

“The emphasis for the success of this project will be the ability for stakeholders to ensure sustained policy development and implementation across several government agencies with a mandate to support road safety improvement. The most critical output following the establishment of the forum is the development of a legislative action plan informed by the five pillars of road safety as recommended under the United Nations decade of action for road safety to which Uganda is a signatory,” said Ms Barbra Mwanje, chief executive officer - Safe Way Right Way.
According to her, the action plan seeks to address legislative action: policy development, enactment, implementation and evaluation across several sectors.
PAFROS intends to deliver legislation that will support government agencies to develop and implement policies that will ensure a systematic approach to road safety improvement in Uganda.