At least 200 people have been reported dead in road crashes in Uganda in just two weeks, 37 of whom were killed in the three days of Easter season.
Ms Faridah Nampiima, the traffic directorate spokesperson told journalists in a Tuesday press briefing in Kampala that the deaths were as a result of 860 road crashes that happened between March 26 and April 10, 2023.
According to her, traffic officers registered 76 road crashes countrywide, of which 28 were fatal, 40 were serious and eight were minor.
“The 76 road crashes had 113 road victims, 37 victims died and 76 sustained injuries during the Easter holidays,” she said.
She said that the fatalities registered included the drivers, motorcycle riders and pedestrians, with speeding being the cause of the crashes.
Over the past three years, traffic crashes have continued to increase on Ugandan roads.
Such spikes past and present have moved observers to say Uganda is facing a crisis on its roads. Traffic crashes appeared to be taking a nose dive after the police in partnership with the Uganda National Road Authority (UNRA) launched a road safety campaign on all highways dubbed Operation Fika Salama in 2016.
Ms Faridah noted that in the weeks under review, traffic police arrested 18,459 suspects across the country for violating traffic rules and regulations while on the road.
The suspects were arrested for offences, including reckless driving, driving motor vehicles in dangerous mechanical condition, driving without a valid permit, seat belt and speeding, among others.
In last year’s annual crime report, police indicated an increase of 35 percent in the common traffic offences.
The report showed that police registered 456,993 cases in 2022 compared to 336,722 cases in 2021 and as a result, the number of road traffic crashes increased from 17,443 in 2021 to 20,394 in 2022 where 3,901 crashes were fatal, 10,776 were serious while 5,717 were minor by nature.