While the festive season rings in the bells of joy and merry-making, it has also been known to feature a considerable spike in road accidents. The exact causes may be debatable but one thing for sure is that caution on the part of all road users could go a long way in reversing this abysmal trend.
It is upon this background that local insurers, under their umbrella body, the Uganda Insurers’ Association (UIA), launched an awareness campaign dubbed “Smart Travel” targeting all road users. The launch took place last Thursday at the UIA offices in Kololo.
While most road caution campaigns tend to primarily focus on Motorists, the Smart Travel Campaign has been designed to be all-encompassing by also targeting pedestrians as they also often fall victim to the road carnages. Very importantly, they also bear responsibility for some of these.
The major objective of the campaign is therefore to spread the message of caution and emphasize the road use dos and don’ts with the hope that this will lead to a drop in road accidents this festive season and going forward.
The campaign will heavily entail sensitization via media i.e. Radio, TV, Print Media & Digital Media. It will also involve on-ground activations at selected points. In line with the festive mood, the theme of caution will be laced with a festive outlook because we seek not to kill the enjoyments but to make them safer.
UIA may be at the forefront of the Smart Travel campaign but it is joined by a number of key stakeholders to ensure it is as effective as it can be. These include: Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and the Ministry of Works & Transport.