289 people killed, 965 injured on Ugandan roads in July

The number of people killed or injured by crashes on Ugandan roads has continued to go up with the latest figures indicating that 289 people died in the month of July.

According to the Traffic Directorate of the Police Force, Faridah Nampiima, a total of 1338 accidents  were recorded in the month of July, 234 of which were fatal.

“Of these(1338 accidents), 234 were fatal, 731 were serious and 337 were minor. There was a total of 1254 victims involved in these accidents, 289 of which died and 965 were injured,”Nampiima said.

She noted that traffic police issued 38771 tickets to drivers and other  motorists on the roads with 6599 of these penalized for reckless driving whereas 8327 were driving vehicles in dangerous mechanical conditions and 3724 had invalid driving licences.

In the past years, the festive season led in registering the highest number of traffic crashes but this seems to have changed with many people now killed or injured in road accidents even before it reaches the festive season.

The latest figures show that the carnage on Ugandan roads has continued to be high with more than nine people killed every day, a number which is the biggest in the region.

The statistics from traffic police also indicate that reckless driving and vehicles in dangerous mechanical condition are still the leading cause of accidents on Ugandan roads.

Nampiima however asked all road users to respect other colleagues on the road.