By Richard Musaazi
The carnage on our roads has become one of the leading causes of death in Uganda. Motor vehicle accidents don’t just happen; they are caused. Sometimes they are caused by a vehicle’s mechanical problems. However, a high proportion of accidents can be directly linked to human error.
Prayer is not a solution to every problem. What we need is a new approach to road safety in Uganda.
The disturbing statistics
The annual crime report for 2024 provided a broad picture of the scale of the problem on Ugandan roads. The report indicated a 6.4% increase in the number of crashes reported in 2024, with the number of fatal accidents swelling to 4,434 in 2024.
In May 2022 alone, Statistics collated by the police Directorate of Traffic and Road Safety indicate that 176 lives have been lost this month so far in fatal road accidents.
In one month 176 lives were lost in fatal road accidents
What are the causes?
Despite occasional outrage, little seems to be done to ensure safety on Ugandan roads. What are the causes? It must be acknowledged that the clearest example includes drunken drivers, intoxication with drugs and alcohol, speeding and fatigue. Drink driving cases usually increase during festive times.
Other factors affecting road safety include driver training and licensing, pedestrian awareness and physical disabilities, e.g. poor eyesight of drivers. The whole driver licensing system in Uganda needs a complete overhaul. There are too many unlicensed or unqualified drivers with little or no knowledge of road rules in Uganda. In addition, there are several drivers on our roads with very poor eyesight or an insufficient field of vision, e.g. poor vision for night driving, and there is no mechanism to check this.
There are too many unlicensed or unqualified drivers with little or no knowledge of road rules
The state of our road system is also to blame. Road building equipment is left on roads, and trenches are left uncovered or without warning signs.
On the very few occasions they are present, road signs are often unhelpful if not deceptive. Some of the new roads are poorly built and soon lapse into disrepair, posing a danger to road users.
My personal experience
In April 2022, I questioned a speeding (public service vehicle) driver on the Kampala Mityana road. I was shocked at the deadly silence maintained by the passengers in the face of an obvious display of dangerous driving.
Even more surprising was the reaction of fellow travellers when I questioned the driver. People were saying, “who do you think you are?” clearly not understanding the gravity of the situation or my rights as a passenger.
Since the driving did not improve, I had no choice but to get off at the next town. I was delayed, but at least I got to my destination without being involved in an accident.
In May 2022, the issue was thrown into an even more personal (and painful) perspective when I lost a family member on 21 May along Balintuma Road in a fatal road accident.
It’s time to review the laws
The failure of users to comply with basic road safety legislation is one of the leading causes of accidents. However, they are not penalised for this. The police are very highly visible on Ugandan roads. Still, unlike in most developed countries, their visibility is for the purpose of extorting money from drivers, not for the enforcement of road rules. There is no use passing laws if they are not to be enforced.
There is a need to review existing legislation and put in place appropriate enforcement regimes. It is time that visibility becomes a deterrent to speeding, drink driving and other dangerous behaviour, as in many developed countries
The death toll equates to an aeroplane falling out of the sky every other day
The death toll equates to an aeroplane falling out of the sky every other day. If that actually happened, the whole system would grind to a halt until the problem was fixed. We need to address this terrible problem with the same urgency. Unfortunately, pedestrian deaths—and all road fatalities—are viewed as an inevitable side effect of modern life.
It’s time to take personal responsibility
The system will always present failures. Therefore, we need to change the attitudes and behaviour of road users, pedestrians and drivers for the better.
Put simply; road users should be held responsible for their own safety. I believe that to save lives, our roads must anticipate driver, bicyclist, and walker errors, based on the simple fact that we are human and we make mistakes. One of the biggest problems is that the police focus more resources on street crime than on street safety.
Put simply; road users should be held responsible for their own safety
We need a presumed liability law that protects vulnerable road users. Under these laws, drivers must prove that a collision with a motorbike rider, cyclist or pedestrian was not their fault. These laws would mean that cyclists, bike riders and pedestrians are more likely to be fairly compensated in the event of a crash. More importantly, such laws would encourage motorists to take extra care when driving alongside vulnerable road users.
I believe Uganda needs to take serious action if we want to reverse the shocking level of injuries among vulnerable road users. And taking personal responsibility is a good place to start.
The author is a Digital Forensic Investigator
