53% Ugandans dissatisfied with road network

Fifty-three percent of road users are dissatisfied with the Uganda road network, the 2021 Uganda Road Fund (URF) survey has shown.

A survey URF released yesterday indicated that road users satisfaction dropped by 10 percent from 57 percent in 2019 to 47 percent in 2021.

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The executive director of URF, Dr Andrew Naimanye, yesterday said road users attributed the decline in satisfaction to potholes, dust, narrow roads, poor drainage and inadequate road maintenance.

“The findings from the survey show that there was a decline in road user satisfaction in 2021 with road users rating their experience on Uganda’s roads in 2021 at 2.39 points out of four compared to 2.51 points in 2019,” Dr Naimanye said.

URF carries out a survey every two years, since 2012, in which they seek public perceptions about service provision in the roads subsector.

At least 2,797 respondents were interviewed, and were from seven road user groups, including pedestrians, passengers, cyclists, motorcyclists, car drivers, taxi/bus drivers and truck drivers. They were picked from both paved and unpaved roads in different parts of the country.

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The respondents ranked potholes at 24 percent as a contributor to their low satisfaction followed by dust (17 percent) and narrow roads (15 per cent), poor drainage (12 percent),  inadequate road maintenance (11 percent).

When the respondents were asked about their perception on road safety in 2021, 51 percent of them felt safe. This is a decline from 58 percent in 2019.

Pedestrians had the lowest satisfaction on Ugandan roads with 37 percent followed by cyclists with 40 percent.

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Dr Naimanye said the respondents believe that “narrow road width was the most common reason why road users felt unsafe on Uganda’s roads accounting for 23 percent of the reasons for feeling unsafe on Uganda’s road network in 2021 followed by the presence of potholes (18 percent), reckless driving by motorists (10 percent) and excessive dust (10 percent).”

Dr Naimanye said narrow roads should not be an excuse for accidents.

He said many developed countries have narrow roads and their road users feel safe because everyone abides by the traffic standards.

The respondents want government to prioritise widening of roads, maintenance, tarmacking, and construction of roads with a long lifespan.