UGANDANS mourn yet another Member of Parliament who perished in a road accident on Sunday night at Mabira of the Kampala – Jinja highway. Henry Balikoowa, who represented Budiope County, died when his vehicle collided head-on with a tractor belonging to the Lugazi-based Sugar Corporation of Uganda.

While the spot where the accident took place has some potholes, those who ply this route at night know the dangers posed by especially sugar cane transporting trucks. The majority are not only in poor mechanical condition, but are also always dangerously loaded, with most lacking night reflectors. Where the reflectors exist, the sugar cane is loaded in such a way that the reflectors are covered, making them simply death traps. Either these tractors should be stopped from moving at night or it is made mandatory that their cargo is covered with reflective tarpaulins to alert other road users.

Uganda has the highest rate of road accidents in the Great Lakes region, with human error accounting for up to 80% of the causes. This includes reckless driving, speeding, inconsiderate road use, incompetent drivers or driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Defective vehicles only account for 10% of the accidents, while bad road condition and environmental factors account for the other 10%.

At the launch of the second report of the Commission for Global Road Safety in Rome, Italy, in May this year, works minister John Nasasira admitted that the road safety condition in Uganda is still unsatisfactory.

The number of road accidents in Uganda has been on the rise over the past decade, with fatalities almost doubling from 1,438 in 2000 to 2,334 last year.

It is estimated that road accidents cost Uganda 2.7% or sh350b of GDP in terms of lives, injury, vehicle and other property lost. This is too much for a poor country like Uganda.

The increase in road accidents means the current interventions are inadequate and new strategies should be put in place to avoid further loss of lives.