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KAMPALA, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | 14 market vendors have perished in a road crash that occurred on Wednesday afternoon at Bukya road, Namilyango village, in Mityana district.
The deceased were moving on an Isuzu UBA 605A heading to Bukya market when the driver lost control.
Superintendent of Police- SP Racheal Kawala, the Wamala regional police spokesperson, confirmed that the market vendors were sitting on top of their luggage loaded on the Isuzu truck when the speeding driver lost its control and it overturned leaving 14 vendors dead on spot.
“The driver, who has not been identified, lost control of the vehicle on a slope, causing it to overturn, resulting in the death of 11 people on the spot. Dozens sustained serious injuries and were rushed to Mityana Hospital and Bukuya Health Centre IV for treatment,” said SP Kawala.
Almost every year, a truck carrying vendors overturns. Some of the major crashes involving market vendors on trucks have happened in Bukomansimbi which left 14 people dead and Pakwach which killed 17 on sport.
In some of these crashes, the causes have been overloading and sometimes vendors connive with drivers to bypass the traffic check points. For instance, the Bukomansimbi crash which occurred in 2021 happened minutes after the vendors passed the check point on foot and went back on top of their luggage.
At least 13 people are killed every day on Ugandan roads according to the 2023 traffic police report. For instance, 4,806 people died in road crashes that happened in 2023 which was a tremendous increase compared to the 4,534 people who perished in 2022.
Road safety experts under their umbrella body, Road Safety Advocacy Coalition Uganda (ROSACU) have blamed the rampant road crashes to poor enforcement of the traffic regulation laws. In most cases, road safety experts say police prioritizes giving money based penalties which leaves road users exposed.
Fred Kiapi, the project manager of Hope for Victims of Traffic Accidents (HOVITA) wonders how police would collect billions of money in a single year in penalties. “When you look at the amount of money police collects from traffic penalties, it shows you that the focus has been majorly money collection but not to deter traffic violators. You saw in 2023 that more than 40 billion shillings were collected in traffic fines but the same report doesn’t have people who were prosecuted for killing 4,806 people,” said Kiapi.
Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) has since joined traffic police to enforce traffic laws mostly handling impunity exhibited by politicians, power civil servants and business persons. Disrespecting other road users has been one of the major reasons cited for the ever increasing road crashes.
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