At least 11 market vendors have perished in a road accident in Mityana district. The accident occurred along Bukya road in Namilyango village after the driver lost control.
The deceased were aboard a Isuzu truck, registration number, UBA 605A which was heading to Bukya market. Racheal Kawala, Wamala regional police spokesperson said at the time of the accident, the vendors were sitting atop the truck with their luggage when the speeding driver lost control and overturned several times, killing 11 vendors on the spot.
Some of the major road crashes involving market vendors on trucks have happened in Bukomansimbi which left 14 people dead and in Pakwach which killed 17 on sport. In some of these crashes, the causes have been overloading and sometimes vendors connive with the drivers to bypass the traffic checkpoints.
For instance, the Bukomansimbi crash which occurred in 2021 happened minutes after the vendors passed the traffic checkpoint on foot before boarding the truck again. On average, 13 people are killed every day on Ugandan roads according to the 2023 traffic police report. For instance, 4,806 people died in road crashes that happened in 2023, an increase from 4,534 people who perished in 2022.
Road safety experts under their umbrella body, Road Safety Advocacy Coalition Uganda (ROSACU) have blamed the rampant road crashes on poor enforcement of the traffic regulation laws. In most cases, road safety experts say police prioritize giving money-based penalties which leaves road users exposed.
Fred Kiapi, the project manager of Hope for Victims of Traffic Accidents (HOVITA) wonders how police would collect billions of money in a single year in penalties.
“When you look at the amount of money police collects from traffic penalties, it shows you that the focus has been majorly money collection but not to deter traffic violators. You saw in 2023 that more than Shs 40 billion were collected in traffic fines but the same report doesn’t have people who were prosecuted for killing 4,806 people,” said Kiapi.
Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) has since joined traffic police to enforce traffic laws mostly handling impunity exhibited by politicians, powerful civil servants and business persons. Disrespecting other road users has been one of the major reasons cited for the ever-increasing road crashes.
