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Despite improved measures, deaths from traffic car crashes continued to occur, according to the Directorate of Traffic and Road Safety.

According to the minimum weekly road traffic report, a total of 84 Ugandans were killed in car crashes between August 27 and September 2, 2023.

This occurred barely one week after Operation Fika Salama Extra was launched by the Uganda Police Force in collaboration with the ministries of Works and transport, Health, and the Uganda National Roads Authority. The operation was intended to bring order to the roads and so reducing road carnage.

The Fika Salama Extra places a stronger emphasis on continuous efforts, such as law enforcement, road safety education, and collaboration with various stakeholder groups.

Since that time, all checkpoints on all major highways have been reactivated, and Ugandans anticipated that this would lower the number of road fatalities, which the directorate has always mostly linked to speeding and reckless driving on the roads.

Speaking to the media during the weekly joint security briefing at the Police headquarters in Naguru, Kampala, on Monday, directorate spokesperson Michael Kananura said 468 road crashes had been reported in just the previous week.

This resulted in 76 fatalities, 252 serious injuries, and 140 minor ones.

The crashes involved 537 victims, of which 84 people died, while 453 sustained injuries.

The dead included 28 motorcycles/boda bodas riders and 10 passengers, while the other 10 victims were pedestrians.

He pointed out that it is ridiculous that all investigations attribute the majority of incidents to speeding and careless overtaking.

Expressway arrests

Kananura said they also succeeded in arresting 390 motorists for exceeding the permitted speed limit of 100 km/h on the Entebbe Expressway.

The majority of those arrested were captured by CCTV cameras.

He claimed that while 10 of the drivers are still at large as a result of their refusal to stop, all of the other offenders received Express Penalty Tickets.

Kananura said the 10 vehicles were placed on a blacklist after being accused of exceeding the prescribed speed limit and disobeying Police orders.

He added that the drivers had been warned to appear at the traffic directorate’s main office or risk being detained and taken to court.