Road crashes kill 2,000 in six months - police

The number of people killed in road accidents has increased by 2.4 percent to 2,042 in the last six months compared to the same period in 2022, according to the Traffic and Road Safety Directorate statistics.

A total of 1,994 people died in road accidents in the first six months last year.
While appearing on a local TV station at the weekend, the Traffic and Road Safety Directorate legal officer, Ms Pamella Kentaro, said the road crashes and fatalities in the last six months are overwhelming.

“According to our statistics so far, we are halfway down the year. We have registered 2,042 road crashes and those are fatal. We have lost 2,042 people,” he said. 

According to police statistics, road crashes also increased by 12.8 percent in the same period from 10,025 accidents in (January to July) 2022 to 11,312 in (January to July 2023). 

At least 6,037 serious accidents were registered while 3,233 other occupants walked away unhurt, but their vehicles or properties was damaged in the same period this year.

There was an increase in incidents in both categories compared to last year in the same period. 
Serious accidents in the last six months increased by 12.7 percent to 6,037 incidents compared to 5,358 last year. Minor accidents rose to 3,233 incidents from 2,673 in last year’s first six months. 

Ms Kentaro said the majority of the victims in the accidents were males below 49 years of age. 
Victims of that age are usually the breadwinners of their families and their incapacitation or death leaves a big financial gap to the surviving members of the family.

The increase in road accidents have pushed the government to revive operations such as Fika Salama to curb the deaths on the road. Even Entebbe Expressway, which was free of traffic enforcement, has not been spared. 

The Uganda National Roads Authority (Unra) issued a warning last week and indicated that they would use police CCTV cameras to enforce discipline on the expressway.

“Please be informed that enforcement operations targeting traffic offenders [on speed limits and lane usage] are starting soon on Kampala—Entebbe Expressway—also called ‘Fika Salaama Extra’. The police are set to utilise their ICT infrastructure to facilitate the exercise,” the Unra statement read in part. 

On August 11, Dr Henry Mwebesa, the director general of Health Services, sought for the reintroduction of operations against drink-driving after the hospitals received an increase of road accident victims. 

Health facilities, especially the public ones, are overwhelmed by accident victims. Mulago National Referral Hospital spends Shs76m daily on accident victims, (27.8b annually) most of whom are boda boda riders or passengers.  

This is nearly half the entire budget of Mulago National Referral Hospital.
Other public hospitals in urban areas around the country are facing the same pressures on their budget to treat accident victims. 

The minimum a hospital spends on treating an accident victim is around Shs1.5m and if complex surgeries are involved, they spend an average of Shs15m on each patient, according to Mulago hospital records.

Express penalty
When the government introduced the express penalty scheme that involves instant monetary fines, it thought motorists’ discipline would improve, but road crashes have continued to increase.

The police suggested halting the issuance of the express penalty scheme tickets for repeated traffic defaulters and turning to the old system of taking them to court where they are remanded to prison or given heavier fines.