Electric poles fall off truck, cause jam on Jinja Road

There was a heavy traffic jam along Kampala-Nakawa road on Saturday morning after electric poles fell off from a moving trailer and rolled all over the main road at the Spear Motors junction.

No one was injured in the accident which occurred at about 11:30am, but another trailer, KCG 766H belonging to Africa Truck Sales, which was moving from the opposite direction was damaged when the rolling heavy poles hit it.

 
One of the traffic police officers at the scene, only identified as Oinebye, said the trailer, UAQ 883E moving from Ntinda was signaled by a traffic officer to proceed. It branched off towards Kampala city, but poles which seemed not to have been firm onto the truck slipped off and rolled in the middle of the road.

People around the scene screamed to the driver of the pole truck waving him down as more poles continued to fall off. Bodaboda riders around the junction abandoned their motor cycles and fled in different directions.

 
The incident caused heavy jam along the Jinja Road highway as the Police diverted vehicles from Kyambogo towards Mbuya Road.

Gift Mcharo, the driver of the damaged trailer, said he was shocked when he saw his counterpart turning off at a high speed, yet the poles were heavy and not firm.

He said he was carrying cargo from the Minor Freight Inland Container Depot at Nakawa heading to Kikuubo where he was supposed to offload it.

The pole truck owner called in a crane, which lifted away the poles and loaded them onto another truck, thereby clearing the road.