At least 10 Ugandans died daily in road accidents in 2020 according to road safety ad traffic records.
Traffic police recorded 3,669 deaths last year translating into 10 people dying in crashes every 24 hours. It should be remembered there was Uganda like other countries imposed four months’ lockdown in a bid to prevent the spread of Covid19.
Lawrence Niwabiine, acting director traffic police said the accidents left 13,012 nursing wounds which was 11 percent reduction compared to 14690 victims registered in 2019.
“During the period under review, 3,269 crashes were fatal, 5,803 were serious and 3,177 were minor. Fatal crashes reduced by 4.1 percent, serious crashes reduced by 3.2percent, and minor crashes reduced by 8.2percent,” Niwabiine said.
Police records show the month of December had the highest number of crashes with 1,445 crashes followed by October with 1,328 crashes and September with 1,270 crashes among others.
“April showed the lowest number of crashes with 470 crashes, followed by May with 631 crashes due to the total lockdown of the country and restricted movement of vehicles during this period December registered the highest number of fatalities at 449, followed by February at 374 and September at 365. Fatalities were lowest in the month of April,” Niwabiine said.
Out of 3663 accidents deaths, 1258 were pedestrians constituting to 34 percent. Niwabiine said accidents that involve pedestrians usually occur as they try to cross the roads. In some cases, pedestrians fall victim when vehicles veer off the road and plough into them.