Police registered 1,400 more road crashes in 2024

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Registered road traffic crashes increased by 1,499 (6.4%) in 2024 compared to 2023, the latest Police crime report says.

The Uganda Police Force Annual Crime Report 2024 was released at the Police headquarters in Kampala on Wednesday (February 19).

It said the crashes increased from 23,608 in 2023 to 25,107 in 2024.

“Out of the total crashes reported to the Police, 4,434 were fatal, 13,134 serious and 7,539 minor. The number of reported fatal crashes also increased by 6.1%, from 4,179 in 2023 to 4,434 in 2024,” the report said.

The number of serious crashes increased by 5.2%, from 12,487 in 2023 to 13,134 in 2024 while that of minor crashes rose by 8.6%, from 6,942 in 2023 to 7,539 in 2024.

The highest number of crashes (2,445) was recorded in December while the lowest was in April (1,863).

Fatalities

Regarding fatalities, the highest number (481) was recorded in August while the lowest (365) was in April.

The report said collisions with pedestrians constituted 19.5% of all crashes while rear end collisions and side swipes accounted for 16.2% and 17.7%, respectively.

Head on collisions accounted for 13%, angle collisions 10.5% and 9% of all crashes were single vehicle crashes.

Collisions where vehicles hit other parked vehicles, hit objects on the road, hit objects off the road and hit animals accounted for 1.6%, 1.5%, 1.8% and 0.8%, respectively.

The report also said that more crashes were reported to have occurred during day time than the night time.

“A similar trend is also reflected in fatal crashes where more fatal crashes are reported to have occurred during day time,” it said.

The highest number of crashes in 2024 (3,780) occurred between 6:pm and 7:59pm. Similarly, fatal crashes (894) were also the highest during that time.

There were more crashes (3,790) reported on Sundays than any other day of the week in 2024. In addition, 3,765 and 3,686 crashes were reported on Saturdays and Mondays. Fewer crashes (3,330) were reported on Tuesdays compared to the other days of the week.

“Careless overtaking and speeding were the leading causes of road crashes in the year 2024 accounting for close to almost half (44.5%) of all crashes,” the report said.