How many must die on our roads?

A motor accident on Masaka road on Thursday night claimed the life of Bukomansimbi Member of Parliament Susan Namaganda.

Earlier on Wednesday, another accident along the Kiboga-Hoima road involving a trailer truck claimed five lives. Much earlier on Tuesday, five people were killed along Tirinyi road when a taxi they were travelling in was involved in an accident with a bus carrying the national football team.

There have probably been many more nondescript accidents all over the country in the last week claiming the lives of boda boda riders and their passengers as well as pedestrians and general commuters.

It has become more or less ritualistic for the concerned authorities to posture for a week or so after every fatal accident involving a prominent citizen and thereafter retire to their slumber leaving many ordinary commuters to their fate as they hassle on our roads.

This is what we expect to happen next week. We saw it when former attorney general Francis Ayume died in a road accident and there was talk of seatbelts and speed governors, and thereafter silence!

Looking at the accidents trends of the past eight or so years is indeed depressing. In 2006, at least 1,792 people were killed in road accidents. In 2007, at least 1,737 were killed. In 2009, road accidents claimed 2,388 lives.

In 2010, the accident death toll was 2,677. In 2011, at least 2,843 were killed. In 2012, the accident death toll climbed to 3,124 and in 2013 it dipped a little to 2,937 deaths.

Going by the trend, it is likely the road accident death toll in the last two years could easily have touched the 4,000 mark annually and this should worry all of us.

Of course, it all starts with the motorists who are notoriously undisciplined on the road; overtaking at blind bends, weaving, speeding and all. There is total disregard of road signs and road markings (where they exist). Buses, taxis, boda boda riders and drivers of government vehicles are the most notorious!
The concerned authorities, notably the ministry of Works, Transport and Communication, Uganda National Roads Authority, the police and all must quickly find a way to reduce accidents on our roads.

It is not enough for us to continue lamenting; we can do many things to make our roads safer and many of them come down to enforcing discipline on motorists. Of course many people will argue that we cannot place a traffic police officer at every 1km stretch on major roads but that should awaken us to look to technology, not bodies.
How many more should dies before we act?