Road crashes claim 120 lives in festive season

At least 120 people have lost their lives in road accidents in the last 16 days, the Monitor has learnt.

According to police reports, between December 23 and January 7, more than 120 people have died and scores have sustained serious injuries due to road accidents across the country.

The major accidents that rocked the last days of 2022 and the 2023 debut week are; the Masaka-Mbarara road crash which claimed 10 lives on December, 28; Buloba multi-car crash along the Kampala-Mityana road killing 3 family members, on December 30, and the Kabale-Ntungamo road crash which left at least 6 people dead on the same day.

In the midnight accident of January 6, 2023, 19 people are reported to have died after a speeding bus from Gulu to Kampala rammed into a stationary trailer at the Adebe trading centre along the Kampala-Gulu highway. Equally, one person was confirmed dead by the district DPC in Kayunga, after a speeding saloon car overturned on January, 07.

Addressing the media last week, the traffic police spokesperson, Ms Faridah Nampima revealed that 55 died in road accidents between December 23 and December 26, 2022, while 212 sustained serious injuries. Between December 30, 2022, and January 1, 35 deaths were registered from 104 road crashes.

Police have attributed the increasing number of road crashes to reckless driving with motorcyclists accounting for the highest number of persons killed, contributing to 28.57 per cent, pedestrians at 25.27 per cent, passengers on other vehicles at 14.26 per cent while passengers on heavy omnibuses and motorcycles 11.43 per cent each. Drivers killed in road crashes account for 5.71 per cent and only 2.86 per cent of pedal cyclists are victims of the same accidents.

Other causes of road accidents according to police are; drink-driving, vehicles in poor mechanical conditions, and poor state of the roads among others.

During a December 22, 2022, special parliament sitting to pay tribute to Serere County legislator, Patrick Okabe who died together with his wife in a December 19, head-on-collision at Naboa on Mbale-Tirinyi road, the legislators called for a decisive action to address road carnage in the county through the implementation of the preventive laws and regulations among other interventions.

Ahead of the festive season, the Minister for Works and Transport, Gen Katumba Wamala issued guidelines to ensure sanity on the roads. They included; the arrest of reckless drivers, capturing figure prints, testing for alcohol levels in drivers involved in accidents as well as banning return journeys for long-route passenger service vehicles. This publication is yet to establish whether the guidelines have been enforced to the do.

Mr Yusuf Nsibambi, the Shadow minister for works and transport said: “Besides reckless driving and other causes of the road crashes, the ministry is underfunded and when you look at the budget framework, the element of road safety is not catered for which also explains why we continue to lose people in such a big number.”

“Last year, we launched the Road Safety Action Plan 2022-2026 to reduce road carnage, but there are no funds for implementation. As we work on the decisive actions for the problem, the government should increase the number of roadblocks on the roads as well as take serious measures against corrupt traffic officials” he added.