ARE WE HELPLESS TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT THE CARNAGE ON OUR ROADS?

Recently there was a horrific crash between a passenger bus and sand laden Isuzu truck on the Masaka-Kampala highway.

To look at the pictures of the aftermath it is a miracle that only two were killed and 20 injured in the accident, which it is reported was a head-on collision between the two vehicles.

We don’t go a week without news of a major accident on our trunk roads. I suspect that a combination of poorly maintained vehicles, improperly trained or inexperienced drivers, driving at break neck speeds are to blame.

"A few months ago, there was a suggestion that the new paved roads were not properly designed and therefore causing the accidents, but I think that is a case of poor workmen blaming their tools....

If one was to buy this argument, what about the argument that we had fewer accidents when our roads were pot holed and it would take whole days travelling journeys that now take a few hours? So, we should we go back to our potholed roads?

"According to the recent police report 3,194 people were killed in road accidents last year. In 2017 3,051 died in road accidents. Ironically there were fewer accidents in 2018 than in 2017. We need to mine that data to determine how that is, because reducing accidents may very well be a first step to reducing the death toll on our roads.

I have no reason to doubt the police report, which would then put the number of dead on our roads, assuming a population of 40 million at about eight deaths per 100,000 Ugandans.

This is an interesting figure because the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in a report released last months determined that Africa is the most death by road accident prone continent in the world with 26.6 deaths per 100,000.

What was even shocking to me is that the number on the European continent was 9.3 deaths per 100,000 and the global average is 18.2 per 100,000.

Even if we took our accidents and measured it against a population of 35 million at 9.1 deaths per 100,000 we would still beat the European average.

One can argue that Uganda has low road coverage and fewer cars than Europe and if those are factored in, our numbers aren’t so rosy after all.

Whatever the case it just goes to show that death even of one person, is still one too many.

Official numbers aside if you think about it, our figures suggest that about nine people are dying daily, that is a taxi every two days or three passenger buses a month. We need not belabor the point.

Something needs to be done urgently.

The people dying in these accidents are not only Ugandans but if you did an inventory, it is possible we are losing valuable skills and experience we as a poor country can least afford to lose. These people are not just statistics, but human beings with families, people of responsibility and benefactors of varying magnitude....

I think the solutions to at least reduce the carnage are clear.

A long time ago on renewal of our road licenses on an annual basis we would have to get clearance from the directorate of motor vehicles that the car was road worthy. The same place cleared people to get driving permits.

The car inspection fell by the way side when the government stopped issuing road licenses, choosing to collect those fees from fuel. This was arguably a good policy for the tax man but one would have to think it has something to do with the increase in road accidents.

We need to strengthen our permit issuing processes. Make all driving schools are up to scratch. Snuff out any corruption that may exist in getting a permit. The law should be punitive for passenger service vehicles drivers if they step out of line. And it should be impressed upon the traffic police the gravity of their responsibility of maintaining law and order on the roads. 

Start with calling boda bodas to order.

"But nothing will take the place of improving the behaviour of our drivers, which has something to do with their training. Why do we overtake at bends or on hills? Why do we think it’s OK to park at undesignated places on the road? Why can’t we obey the laws of the lanes and not cut off people to make turns when we shouldn’t be?

These are just off the top of my head. There must be room for a comprehensive study that would recommend more robust actions that we should take to reduce this bloodletting.

Just because we do not use public transport, some of us, we should not be oblivious to these hair-raising statistics. We should join our voices in this fight because at the rate at which we are going it’s not long, God forbid, that one of us becomes the statistic.