400 children die in road accidents

BY Esther Namirimu

At least 400 children, mostly pedestrians, die in road accidents in Uganda every year, a Ministry of Works and Transport report published last year states.

By far the most common type of injury accident involving children are those that also involve motor vehicle collisions.

According to another report by the Injury Control Centre of Uganda, children make up about 20% of total fatalities due to car accidents. In fact, for children between the ages of 4 and 14, motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death.

46% of children seriously injured in road accidents are urban children and it is twice the percent of falls and burns added together.

Ssebuliba Mukasa, of Causality department of Mulago hospital says that the hospital receives 20 children per day, 146 per week and about 600 per month who have been involved in road accidents. About 10 injured children are admitted per day.

At Nsambya hospital, Godfrey Kizito the records officer says on average  nine children oare admitted per week and 20 children on average per month. But most of the cases that are registered are out patients who receive immediate treatment and are then sent home.

Research shows that Car accidents are also the leading cause of acquired disability (e.g., brain injury, paralysis, etc.) for children nationwide. And approximately 20% of the children who die in a car accident each year are killed in accidents involving a driver who is legally intoxicated. Nearly half of these children were killed while riding as passengers in an automobile driven by an intoxicated driver.

The problem of overloading children on motorcycles and the failure to wear a helmet or seat belt is a contributing factor in more than half of the cases involving children who die in car accidents. Not only is an unrestrained child a potential distraction to the driver of the vehicle, but also the failure to wear a helmet or seat belt dramatically increases the chance that a child will suffer much more serious injury and death.

Another research conducted between January and May 2008 surveyed a total of 556 recorded cases of injured children. The majority had been transported to hospital by mothers using mini-buses, private cars, and motorcycles.

Homes, roads, and schools were leading injury locations. Boys constituted 60% of the cases. Play and daily living activities were commonest injury time activities.

Road accidents account for a large number of deaths and injuries in Uganda. Statistics from the Police show that deaths rose from 778 in 1990 to 2017 in 2004 while road accidents rose to 18,092 in 2006 from 5,674 in 1990 and are bound to increase if unchecked.

Kampala and Wakiso lead in fatal accidents, with 12 to 20 deaths recorded weekly along Entebbe Road particularly at Kattambwa, Mildmay Centre and Kawuku.

In another study, the Injury Control Centre-Uganda, (ICCU) Old Mulago Hospital conducted a research among 8,165 children from 35 primary schools in Kawempe. The mean age was 9 years. 49% of the children were male. 92% of the children were day scholars.

53 children (27 girls) had been involved in a traffic incident. 25% of the injuries reported were serious and warranted care in a health facility. No deaths occurred. 40 % of incidents involved commercial motorcycles, 41% bicycles, 9% cars, 8% taxis, and 2% trucks. The cumulative incidence was 0.168% each term which translates to about 14 children injured in road accidents every term.