By Spy Uganda
At least 71 deaths and 287 serious injuries resulting from road accidents were recorded in the last one week alone according to the traffic police report.
Of these 71 deaths, 28 were boda boda riders, seven were passengers on motorcycles, and 17 were pedestrians. Furthermore, traffic police statistics for September indicate that they collected Shs 170 million in penalties from drunk drivers and those driving above the prescribed speed limit.
According to the September report, 474 drivers were arrested and fined Shs 200,000 each for driving under the influence of alcohol. 380 drivers were apprehended using footage from the Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras for exceeding the speed limit of 100km/h on the Entebbe expressway.
Similar to the drunk drivers, the police issued a Shs 200,000 fine to the speeding drivers. The superintendent of police Micheal Kananura, the traffic police spokesperson, explained that many drivers have been disregarding the speed limit of 100km/h on the Entebbe expressway.
“Drivers drive beyond the prescribed speed along Entebbe expressway because they know we don’t have traffic personnel at all points. But we have our CCTVs which we use to capture these people and we issue them with tickets,” Kananura said.
Out of the Shs 170 million collected, Shs 94 million came from penalties issued against drunk drivers, while Shs 76 million was from speeding fines. The drunk drivers were apprehended primarily on high-risk roads during the night, including the Northern bypass, Entebbe expressway, Jinja road, Kira road, and Entebbe road.
“We also impounded 569 motorcycles because the owners did not have driving licenses, reflector jackets, and crash helmets. This was part of our Fika Salama Extra operations on various roads,” Kananura said.
