The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Fuel distributor Vivo Energy Uganda is optimistic that road carnage in Uganda can reduce once all players cooperate.
Kampala, Uganda | JULIUS BUSINGE | Speaking at the second Road Safety Summit held at Sheraton Hotel in Kampala on July 23, Gilbert Assi, the company’s managing director said that their overall aim is to achieve statistically noticeable drops in the numbers of road traffic accidents in Uganda by the next Summit in 2020.
“As a follow up to the First Road Safety Summit, this year we now seek to advance the discussion and commitments made at the time. This is because we believe that road safety is a shared objective and a burden that affects everyone,” Assi said.
Statistics presented by Stephen Kasiima, the head of traffic at Uganda Police Force indicates that in 2018 alone 12, 805 accidents were recorded, representing a 3% drop once compared to the year before.
Kasiima said they will continue maintaining heavy presence of traffic officers on the road to ensure that bad drivers are dealt with accordingly. He said that in 2018, Shs263million was raised from drivers of motor vehicles without valid driving permits.
Assi said that Vivo Energy Uganda takes road safety very seriously because “we have on the average over 300 trucks on the road daily transporting Shell fuels and lubricants, covering up over 18 million kilometres annually.”
“We have therefore invested efforts to ensure our road transport performance is excellent year on year to achieve our Goal Zero target,” Assi said.
Goal Zero is about the company’s continuous commitment to run their business in a responsible manner with zero harm to people, assets and the environment in all their operations.
He said that they are able to observe their drivers driving behaviour in real time using On Board Computers and cameras that are installed in every truck that transports their products.
Meanwhile, Assi said that all their truck drivers receive defensive driving training annually to refresh their safety skills whilst on the road.
The company has also invested heavily in training over 2000 bodaboda riders, 700 taxi drivers and 300 bus drivers in defensive driving annually.
Attended by approx.200 participants from key road safety players, this year’s summit carried the theme ‘Road Safety: Time for Action’ was intended for each participant not only to participate but to adopt an action point by which they shall be held accountable at the next year’s summit.
****
