Due to the increasing rate of road accidents, Uganda Police has started a name and shame campaign, one of several strategies to bring back sanity on the roads.
Assistant Superintendent of Police-ASP Faridah Nampiima, who is the traffic police spokesperson, on Monday released a list of number plates of 143 cars whose drivers had broken traffic rules and are now expected to pay Express penalty scheme (EPS) penalties after being charged.
“Using our cameras, 143 violated traffic laws and regulations in various locations and they have been charged accordingly. You are advised to report to the nearest police station and pick up your EPS tickets for the various offences,” she said in a statement.
At an average of sh100,000 per car, the ‘name and shame’ operation could plough in about sh14million.
Nampiima said traffic police shall continue using the cameras to take action on traffic violators.
The CCTV footage the have captured all the details – date, time , place of offense , road,offense , car make , number plate and vehicle color.
“Every week we shall be having a list of traffic violators as a mechanism of naming and shaming. We remind all road users that road safety begins with you. Avoid behaviors that would lead you to misuse the road,” she warned.
The traffic records released last month show that 435 people were killed in various road crashes across the country in just five weeks. The figures also indicate that 1,300 people were left nursing serious injuries.
ASP Nampiima said the four weeks of June left 366 people killed in road crashes while 1,146 road users survived with critical injuries.
Nampiima adds that another 69 people perished in road crashes in the first nine days of July. The 366 people killed in June and 69 killed in the first week of July bring the total number of road deaths to 435.
The deaths also mean 87 lost their life each week that passed. When computed to days, the road killing translates into 12 people dying each day as a result of vehicle, motorcycle or bicycle crashes. If the road deaths continue being high, Uganda is likely by December 31st to have the highest number of road killings it has seen ever.
Statistics recently released by Acting Traffic Police Director Lawrence Nuwabiine, show 4,159 people died in road crashes in 2021. This means 11 people lost their lives in road crashes every day. However, since April this year to date, daily road crash deaths have been ranging from 12 to 14 persons.
Like last year where most of the deaths were of boda boda riders standing at 1,390, followed by pedestrians at 1,384, the situation hasn’t changed much. Pedestrians and motorcyclists are still the biggest number of victims.
Some of the major road fatalities registered in the first week of July was at Kinawata railway crossing where three people coming from a hangout were crashed by a train. Two of the trio have been identified as Caroline Aturinda and Nobert Tezikara.
Another crash that killed 10 people happened on Bombo road. Police have arrested the driver who was aged 22 years. It is believed that the victims were netballers from Bwaise but no one has come out to claim ownership of the taxi. Nampiima said the cause of the Bombo crash was a tyre burst while the Kinawataka crash resulted from reckless driving.
But Sam Bambanza, a road safety activist and director Hope for Victims of Traffic Accidents (HOVITA) says efforts to should be on investigating every crash to establish the causes. Bambanza adds that there is also need to have a robust emergency response system.
