KCCA teams up with Bloomberg to reduce city accidents

KAMPALA- In a bid to reduce motor accidents in the city, Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has partnered with Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS) to implement a six-year road safety programme.

BIGRS is collaborating with local stakeholders to save lives through interventions that focus on four major risk factors; speeding, drink driving, wearing helmet and use of seat-belts.

According to WHO’s Global Health Observatory data, road traffic injuries are the eighth leading cause of death worldwide with the age group of 5-19 being the most affected.

Uganda’s Annual Crime Report for 2019 shows that there was a 0.4 per cent spike in the number of road crashes reported from 12,805 in 2018 to 12,858 in 2019, of which 3,407 were fatal.

The BIGRS initiative will further provide support in areas of data and surveillance, safer streets and mobility, police enforcement and communication.

To ease implementation of the programme, KCCA will get both technical and financial support from global partners to produce data proven solutions to save lives on city roads.

The partners include the World Health Organisation (WHO), Vital Strategies, Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP), World Resource Institute (WRI), Johns Hopkins University and International Injury Research and Country Level Partners.
Mr Kelly Larson, the Bloomberg philanthropies’ programme director, said more than 1.35 million people are killed on the world’s roads every year.

“We are delighted to welcome Kampala as one of 30 cities that will participate in the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety, a network committed to reducing the deaths and injuries from road traffic crashes,” Mr Larson said.

According to a KCCA statement released on Saturday, Mr Larson said by implementing proven evidence-based and data-driven interventions, the deaths caused by motor accidents are nearly entirely preventable.

“We are putting the issue of road safety at the forefront and appreciate this intervention. We welcome all the support from Bloomberg Philanthropies and shall I shall be very active in this,” the KCCA statement quoted Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago as saying.

The current city transport industry is informally self-regulating, with a number of governance issues and as such, motorists brazenly flout traffic rules, putting their lives and those of passengers at risk.

KCCA statistics shows that there are 20,000 taxis operating in the Central Business District (CBD).
However, these taxis are regularly overcrowded, emit high level fumes and offend traffic rules.