Easter accidents claim 101 lives

KAMPALA-UGANDA/NEWDAY: The police have said that at least 101 people were killed in the Easter week road accidents. According to the traffic police spokesperson, Faridah Nampiima, 72 people died in crashes that happened between April 10th to April 16th.

The other 29 persons perished in crashes that occurred on Easter on Sunday and Easter Monday – totaling 101 deaths.

Police say people lost lives in the accidents as they rushed to go shopping for Easter, going to celebrate with relatives while others met their death while going or returning from places of entertainment.

Away from those who died, 413 were left nursing injuries during the Easter week road crashes. Nampiima explains that out of the total injuries registered in the Easter week, 242 people picked serious injuries.

Police attribute the Easter road crashes to the indiscipline of road users. Police says many people drove with a lot of excitement while passenger vehicles and boda-bodas were overspeeding in order to make return journeys or more trips.

Nampiima explains that investigations into the crashes show that motorcyclists and their passengers were not wearing crash helmets, many vehicles were in dangerous mechanical conditions while others turned their individual cars into passenger vehicles.

“All those operating private vehicles and station wagon vehicles to offer public transport without license must stop immediately. It is an offence to use a vehicle to carry a passenger when you are not licensed to do so. We continue to appeal to all drivers and road users to driver with discipline,” said Nampiima.

Julius Kanuuma, a special hire driver, agrees that many of his colleagues attempted to drive faster in order to make more trips. He says this happened because the number of clients during the Easter period was higher.

“There were many people going to different places. If you are not a person with a contented heart, you would be tempted to drive faster in order to make several trips. But my principle is that I drive at my pace,” explains Kanuuma.

Nampiima adds that 9,278 traffic offenders were arrested during the Easter week. Of these 1,869 were arrested and issued with express penalty tickets (EPS), 751 had no seat belts on, 343 were arrested for overspeeding, 142 were arrested for pillion riding and 822 had invalid driving licenses.