KCCA launches campaign to discourage reckless driving during Christmas holidays

The Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has launched a mass media campaign aimed at discouraging drivers from reckless driving during the coming festive season.

The campaign dubbed “Kampala Festive Season Speeding campaign” is aimed at reducing speeding during the month of December to January 2023.

It will show the deadly harms of exceeding speed limits and it is Kampala city’s first project under the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS) partnership.

Speaking at the launch in at City Hall on Thursday, the city Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago said that this much-needed campaign aims to illustrate the dangers of speeding to road users especially in Kampala.

“We are confident that the public service announcements, in combination with rigorous police enforcement, will help deter risky road user behaviour, and will make Kampala’s roads safer for motorists, pedestrians and passengers, thus preventing deaths and severe injuries that plague our city.” Lukwago said.

According to him, this city-level speeding campaign was developed with technical support from Vital Strategies, an international public health organisation and BIGRS partner, in collaboration with Safe Way Right Way, also seeks to improve road safety behaviour through improving knowledge and changing social attitudes and norms.

Relatedly, KCCA Executive Director Dorothy Kisaka noted that the campaign is a collaboration between enforcement, academia, state and non-state actors and development partners seeking to show the impact of collective responsibility in advancing road safety.

“The timing of the campaign is ideal given increased travel and sadly, increased crash related carnage and injuries that come with the festive season.” she said.

The Kampala Festive Season speeding campaign will also air on television, radio, outdoor and social media for four weeks to graphically illustrate the severe consequences resulting from speeding.

The campaign will run through the festive season (December-January) and is coordinated with enforcement options.