There’s need to tighten road safety guidelines

While tragic accidents still occur  in the country today, many of them unavoidable, there has been an improvement in the way the government is tackling the problem.

For example, the roads including the Masaka-Mbarara Highway tend to have many checkpoints and police officers monitoring the traffic. Still the problem persists and this is perhaps why the Minister of Works and Transport, Gen Katumba Wamala, during an event to remember road traffic victims pledged to create more awareness around the issue and also mentioned that the government is revising laws to reduce road carnage.

An example given was that of the Traffic and Road Safety Act 1998 which was amended in 2020 to provide for post-crash care. The event, World Remembrance Day for Road Traffic Victims, was held on November 21, and the story was reported in the Daily Monitor of November 22, titled, “Govt calls for stricter action to reduce car crash deaths”.

A look at the annual reports released by Uganda Police Force show a number of similarities which point to areas that need to be focused on. First, both the 2019 and 2020 reports show that the places with the most fatalities are Kampala Metropolitan region, Greater Masaka, Rwizi and the Albertine area. They also state that majority of the accident vehicles that are inspected after the accidents are privately-owned and that most of the vehicles involved in crashes are found to be in a good mechanical condition before the accident. This points to the fact that there is recklessness among the drivers and the possibility that many of these have not been to licensed driving schools.

The 2017 and 2018 reports state that the majority of those killed during these accidents are pedestrians: “Accidents that involve pedestrians usually occur as they try to cross the roads. In some cases, pedestrians fall victim when vehicles veer off the road and plough into them. Other accidents occur when a driver trying to avoid collision with another vehicle ends up hitting pedestrians,” the 2019 report states. After pedestrians, the next number of most affected persons are the motorcyclists because “motorcycles have become a popular means of transport in Uganda due to their flexibility and versatility.”

From the above information, it is clear that a good amount of the work is needed to create awareness and enforce rules and guidelines. Many road users do not care for the others on the road. They also do not understand what various road signs mean and have not been trained efficiently. The ministry should therefore find effective ways to deal with road users who break the rules, insist on people getting drivers licences only if they have attended licensed driving schools, and keep doing all these and more consistently.

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