Road carnage: Parliament wants victims compensated
Aug 22, 2019
To curb the road carnage, Members of Parliament now want Government to hold companies and individuals owning vehicles involved in reckless driving leading to road accidents liable for the victims.
ACCIDENT
In a space of just one week, the rampant road accidents involving heavy-goods trucks and passenger vehicles have left an estimated 50 people either dead or nursing severe injuries.
To curb the road carnage, Members of Parliament now want Government to hold companies and individuals owning vehicles involved in reckless driving leading to road accidents liable for the victims.
On Sunday afternoon a driver of an unidentified petroleum truck in transit to Kasese, lost control of the fuel tanker, ramming into a passenger minibus and parked Toyota Premio at Kyambura stage sparking an inferno that spread to nearby shops, leaving at least 21 people burnt to ashes and several others injured.
A scene of death at Kitigoma following a head-on crash. (File photo)
On the same day, another road accident involving a Y.Y bus and a taxi claimed the life of 10 people in Namutumba district, eastern Uganda. This was the second accident involving the Y.Y coaches in less than a week on the same highway killing two people and injuring 45 others.
Unfortunately, in all cases, Police has blamed all the accidents on reckless driving.
"In this very week, another fuel tank parked in Lira town also burst in flames, forcing release of suspects from a Police cell but as these tragedies go on, Government is quiet on who to blame, insurance companies are not explaining who will compensate property and lives lost that's why as Parliament we need to devise means of ensuring the companies whose cars are involved should compensate these victims," the Lira district woman MP, Joy Ongom said yesterday.
Her proposal was backed by David Abala (Ngora County) and Patrick Nsamba (Kassanda North) who also implored Government to consider setting up a, "professional driving institute since most accidents are caused by human error otherwise who trains these street instructors that we go to for driving lessons."
The Mbale Municipality MP Jack Wamanga-Wamai also recommended that to minimise human errors on the road, Government should move to recall all driving permits for public passenger drivers and heavy-goods transporters for re-evaluation.
Records reported by New Vision indicate that over 260 people have died in accidents involving fuel trucks between 1993 and 2013 with the highest number of deaths recorded in December 2001 when over 100 perished after a fuel tanker overturned and burst in flames at Busesa, Iganga district.
The Fort portal municipality MP, Alex Ruhunda said according to statistics by the parliamentary forum on road safety, Uganda losses sh5trillion annually in property, lives and injuries due to road accidents.
Parliament Speaker Rebecca Kadaga called on Government to draft stern sanctions against company vehicles that are registered in more than one accident as a result of reckless driving.
To arrest the situation, the junior finance minister, David Bahati pledged that the Minister for relief and disaster preparedness will today begin attending to urgent issues relating to victims while Government will by next week Tuesday have come up with an inter-ministerial statement on action points against road carnage.
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