Causes of accidents on Ugandan roads

By Guest Writer

Ten people were confirmed dead and more than 33 critically injured in a road accident that happened on February 2 at Kanyansi between Hiima and Rugendabala on the Kasese-Fort Portal road. The police attributed the accident to several causes.

According to the traffic police records for the last four years, at least 2,634 pedestrians and cyclists are killed on Uganda roads every year. Between 2016 and 2019, at least 10,537 pedestrians and riders were knocked dead in urban areas, highways and village roads. This means that seven pedestrians and cyclists were killed in accidents each day. About 6,210 of the victims are pedestrians followed by motorcyclists at 3,651 and cyclists at 676.

This can be attributed to: Unsafe practices of road contractors, bad driving, overloading of vehicles, lack of critical road signs and warnings, poor condition of vehicles, bad weather, failure by police to enforce road discipline, etc.