Road Safety Advocacy Coalition Uganda (ROSACU) has called for specialized courts to handle the increased traffic offenses in the country and decried the road crashes and their impact on the populace.
The Chairperson of ROSACU, Fred Tumwine, made these remarks while discussing issues of road safety during the festive season on November 17, 2023, on a local radio station.
He noted that it is high time independent courts were created by the government to handle these road crashes, which are costing the country close to UGX 7.39 trillion annually
Tumwine noted that 4534 people get involved in road crashes per year, translating to an average of 12 people dying per day.
“If we consider information from the Ministry of Health, the percentage is at 43%, and these are people of productive age, implying that 5% of our gross domestic product (GDP), approximately UGX 7.39 trillion, is lost annually,” said Tumwine.
Alex Ruhunda, the Chairperson of the Parliament Forum on Road Safety,
decried society’s attitude towards life, saying they work for their afterlife, and attach less value to their lives while still on earth.
“If such attitudes are not changed by Ugandans, the road crash crisis might not be reduced,” said Ruhunda.
He advised Ugandans to appreciate the laws of road safety, adding that tackling behavioral change in people is the campaign that must be pushed if any improvements are to be made on road crashes.
“Until people appreciate the common good and importance of living together and know that every life matters, then it is a waste of time,” he added.
Timothy Chemonges, associate director at the Center for Policy Analysis, a project under parliament that monitors road safety, urged the public to take extra caution while on the roads ahead of the festive season due to the numerous crashes and fatalities common on Ugandan roads during this period, as recorded in the past years.
“We promise to continue providing space and analysis to different
entities of government to ensure that we have proper legal framework and support in as far as implementation of policies is concerned,” said Chemonges.
Minister of Works and Transport Uganda, Gen. Edward Katumba-Wamala, acknowledged the number of crashes and crash fatalities on roads, with an estimated 12,589 and 4159, respectively, as reported in the Annual Traffic and Crime Report by the Uganda Police Force (UPF) in 2021.
He added that the government is committed and has already started the implementation of a number of interventions to address road safety in collaboration with other stakeholders.
The National Road Safety Action Plan has been developed in consultation with all relevant stakeholders to set out a coordinated effort for the implementation of road safety interventions for the next five years.
