Road accidents in Uganda have been known to happen anywhere, anytime. This is attributed to a number of factors including but not limited to over speeding, reckless driving, poor roads in some places, drunk-driving, among others.
According to a Traffic and Road Safety report released by the Uganda Police in May 2019, it shows that there was a 3.0% reduction in the number of crashes reported in 2018. However, fatal crashes increased by 4.7%.
This report is complemented by one from Twaweza East Africa, who through their Sauti za Wananchi survey conducted in 2017 revealed that 53% of these accidents are bodaboda related. That is more than half of other causes of road cases, coming in second at 25%.
Most of these bodaboda riders do not respect traffic rules, most times just riding through the red traffic light, climbing pavements, over loading and riding in the opposite direction of one-way roads. This continued behaviour leads them into accidents, getting fatal fractures and sometimes losing their life and the lives of passengers.
The traffic and road safety division of police has put in place stringent measures to curb this like charging fines or imprisonment to offenders, requiring them to wear helmets and encouraging passengers to always speak out to the riders if they see them breaking traffic rules.