Makerere to start course for boda boda riders

Mar 03, 2020

The project that will initially cost shs220m this year, has started at Makerere University with 30 boda boda riders.

ACCIDENTS   ROAD SAFETY 
 
KAMPALA - A three-year project has been started by Makerere University to educate boda boda riders in the use of roads.
 
The project that will initially cost shs220m this year, has started at Makerere University with 30 boda boda riders. 
 
The opening also featured many experts who included the Ministry of Works and Transport (MoWT) officials and Uganda National Road Authority (UNRA) officials.
 
The project is aimed at educating boda boda riders in the country whose number is growing rapidly every day. 
 
Over 50% of male youths aged 18-35 in Uganda are employed in the boda boda industry and are less informed about road usage, their health and entrepreneurship.
 
The government tasked us to come up with various ideas that could help improve on the status of the people in the country and one idea we came up with was the M-Learning for the boda boda cyclists, Prof. Paul Birevu Muyinda the Deputy Principal of College of Education and External Studies (CEES) said
 
Muyinda said CEES is building an application which will enhance the behavioural change, health, road usage and entrepreneurship knowledge for cyclists.
 

 

"We are going to use M-learning because the nature of the people we are dealing with is nomadic in nature," he revealed. 
 
Muyinda explained that the application is still under research and development for effective use so that it can be user-friendly and multi-linguistic to all cyclists.
 
"When it's fully developed, the application will be available on Google play store for Android users and IOS store to those with Apple phones.
 
The app is going to be a self-paced and will improve on riders riding principles, health learning and entrepreneurship," Muyinda said.
 
ACP Charles Ssebambulidde the Assistant Commissioner Enforcement Directorate of Traffic Police and road safety said the boda boda industry is chaotic, unsafe and riders themselves are unruly, insensitive, and reckless.
 
He added that most of them do not have driving permits which is dangerous for the road users.
 
According to the traffic police report, 90% of Ugandan use boda bodas. 
 
Every year the lives of approximately 1.35 million people in the world are cut short as a result of road traffic crashes.
  
Ssebambulidde applauded the government for partnering with Makerere University to come up with such an initiative. "This is going to reduce on the accidents and improve on-road usage," he added.

 

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