Africa-Press – Uganda. Rwenzori Diocese, in partnership with the police, has launched a road safety campaign aimed at reducing road carnage in the region.
Speaking at a press conference in Fort Portal Town on Tuesday, Rwenzori Diocese Bishop Reuben Kisembo said the annual week-long campaign is in memory of the late Bishop Patrick Kyaligonza, who perished in a road accident on the Fort Portal-Kyenjojo road in 2010.
Bishop Kyaligonza was the 5th Bishop of the diocese.
Bishop Kisembo said the road safety campaign will involve sensitisation of the public on road safety, establishing a zebra crossing in Katooke, and a memorial service for Bishop Kyaligonza.
The campaign will end on Sunday.
“When the Bishop died, as a diocese, we established a trust fund and annually we held a road safety campaign with the aim of reducing road carnage. We don’t want other people to perish in road crashes. We thank police for partnering with us,” he said.
He added that the police need to enforce traffic rules.
“Many drivers have continued to overload, speed and others don’t have driving permits. I want to appeal to police in charge of traffic to arrest all those who break traffic rules to see that our people are safe on the road because we can’t continue losing people because of reckless driving,” he said.
Bishop Kisembo also said some police officers let motorists with vehicles in dangerous mechanical conditions pass through the checkpoints on the highways.
The Rwenzori West police spokesperson, Mr Vincent Twesigye, said they have resolved to arrest boda boda riders who are found to be overloading, especially school children.
“We want to warn parents this time to stop giving their children to boda bodas to take them to school because they overload and they end up causing road crashes. We have had a security meeting and we shall arrest them,” he said.
Police records show that a total of 37 people lost their lives on the Fort-Portal-Kyegegwa Highway from January to May 2022.
The road crashes include the Link Bus accident that killed more than 20 people.
Police report
The Police Annual Road Traffic report indicates that between 2019 and 2021, reckless driving caused a total of 33,208 crashes, followed by pedestrians with 2,527 crashes.
The report quoting data from the regional referral hospitals also indicates that 5,986 motorcycles involved in road crashes were registered in 2019/2020, 9,708 entries in 2020/2021, and up to 11,452 admissions in 2021/2022.
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