By Jael Namiganda
Road safety remains a global issue, with the low and middle-income countries (LMICs) bearing the heaviest burden of road traffic accidents, which are the number one killer of children and youth aged between 5 to 29 and the eighth leading cause of deaths across the world.
A total of 328 accidents occurred before the month of June and out of these 62 accidents were fatal, 180 were serious and 86 were minor. Victims : There were 355 accident victims during this period and out of these 89 people died and 266 sustained injuries.
Now at least 84 people were killed and another 339 injured in various road crashes during the Martyrs’ week. According to information from the Traffic Police Directorate compiled between May 29th and June 4, 2022, at least 423 people were involved in road crashes nationwide.
Nabisere Hajarah a mother to a one John Peter who lost hislife to a speeding car in Bwaise says that these culprits should be brought to book or given tough penalties so that their fellows learn from them and drive properly.
“Many of these offenders know they can easily bribe the police, so even if they arrested, they will be released in no time before the victims are even compaseted” Nabisere said”
Kampala Metropolitan recorded the highest number of deaths with 33 people and another 107 with critical injuries. Faridah Nampiima, the Traffic police spokesperson says that they have noticed new blackspots on several roads and a decision has been made to erect road barriers in such places to reduce crashes.
She says that they also intend to deploy personnel at the new blackspots.
The data also shows that police apprehended 40,760 traffic offenders and issued them with the Express Penalty tickets between May 1st to May 31st, 2022. Most of the offenders totaling 8,979 were driving vehicles in dangerous mechanical conditions (DMCs), 6,978 were fined for reckless driving, 3,644 driving without valid licenses, 3,403 without third-party and 3,156 were fined for failure to wear seatbelts.
According to Nampiima, the traffic police have also taken a decision to intensify the crackdown on boda boda riders operating without crash helmets and those carrying more than one passenger.
“We are concentrating on those carrying more than one passenger and without crash helmets. Fika Salama operations are re-launched. Officers In charge of traffic should go on with community sensitization,” Nampiima added.
The 84 deaths recorded in road crashes just in a week, means 12 people died each day while another 48 survived with horrendous injuries. Between April 24 to May 8th, 2022, 193 people were killed in a space of 14 days translating to 13.7 deaths per day.
