As Christians worldwide marked Easter Day in remembrance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, some families in Uganda were mourning relatives who perished in accidents.
According to the traffic police report released on Tuesday, at least 45 people perished in fatal accidents during Easter festivities.
“Between Holy Thursday on March 28 and Easter Monday on April, 1, 45 people lost their lives and 125 sustained injuries due to road crashes,” traffic police spokesperson, Michael Kananura said.
He said among the dead were 22 motorcyclists, five passengers on these motorcycles and 10 pedestrians.
Kananura said the three categories constituted 72% of the deaths registered during Easter holidays and most of the crashes happened in greater Kampala Metropolitan Area, Albertine and Wamala police regions.
Operations
Kananura said during the Easter season, traffic police carried out several operations targeting drivers defying traffic guidelines.
During these operations, over 780 defaulters were arrested and vehicles impounded.
“Out of these, 89 were without valid driving permits, 435 were having expired licences , 257 were driving out of class and five had forged driving licences. All the 89 without driving licences were taken to court,” Kananura said.
He noted that 329 drivers driving beyond the prescribed speed limit were also arrested and issued with express penalty scheme tickets while 1119 riders were arrested without crash helmets and tasked to buy them before being given back their motorcycles.
