Road safety in Uganda remains a big concern. No single day passes without reports of lives lost in road carnage.

Police statistics show that 20,000 road accidents occur nationwide each year, causing over 2,000 deaths, because of reckless driving by undisciplined taxi drivers, bus drivers, errant bodaboda riders, and careless pedestrians.

According to the Uganda Road safety initiative, Uganda has one of the worst road safety records in the world.

Some Members Who Attended The Worksop In Kampala

In Uganda today, accidents are one of the leading causes of deaths, competing with HIV/AIDS and malaria, making Uganda's road network one of the most unsafe in the world.   

Hospitals in Uganda are overwhelmed by the number of accident victims especially motorcyclists. Up to 200 victims are believed to be admitted on daily basis in national hospitals alone.

Paul Kavuma, the Uganda Insurers Association (UIA) Chief Executive Officer while closing the four-day workshop recently, explained that the training was part of their mandate as an association to champion road safety.

He explained that their mandate is to work with police, more especially the community liaison and traffic officers because they are the first responders on accident scenes.

“If we can equip them with skills and tools to facilitate accident victims, then we are sure to have a much better smooth process in terms of documentation and details of an accident even for the victim claims,” he said.

The training which attracted over 70 officers, bus drivers, and other public drivers was sponsored by Uganda Insurers Association (UIA). It was conducted at Golf course hotel in Kampala.

He added, 'There are about 23000 accident victims eligible for compensation every year, we want to see this number reduced through this training.'

Sam Bambanza, the Executive Director Hope for Victims of Traffic Accident (HOVITA) expressed the need to strengthen the victims by knowing their rights and how they can be assisted at the police level.

“We have realised that there are several road-based accidents that do not go to courts of law because they are poorly investigated, so we want to ensure the community liaison and traffic officers are aware when it comes to assisting road accident victims,” he said.

Different people often seem to agree that they are overwhelmed by the enormous task their force has to do on the roads with the ever-growing traffic volume.

Denis Kalule, a taxi driver was Faulted KCCA for failing to seal the uncountable number of potholes on the roads. Kalule also said the

“With continued growth in population, urbanisation, and traffic volume on roads, injuries could easily become the leading cause of death and disability to children in Uganda over the next years to come,” Alex Magambo, a senior driver said.

Aisha Kayongo, a police trainer said it was important to train traffic officers and public drivers so that they know their roles and functions.

"If an accident happens, it will be the traffic officers to be at the scene while liaison officers go to the communities and carry out the investigation," she said.