Police: 669 Children Perish in Road Accidents in 10 Months

The Directorate of Traffic and Road Safety of Police has revealed that in the last 10 months, 669 children have died in road accidents.

Data from police shows that 361 were boys while girls were 308.

According to the acting Director of Traffic and Road Police, Lawrence Nuwabiine, there is a need to reverse the distressing situation.

Micheal Kananura, the Spokesperson of the Traffic Directorate, said on average, 12 people die in traffic road crashes, with the vulnerable groups being motorcyclists, cyclists, and pedestrians.

He added that these form 80% of the fatalities.

Kananura attributed most of these traffic road crashes to overspeeding.

“Speed is a major risk factor among the leading causes of road crashes. Increasing speed reduces your reaction time, braking distance, and stopping distance. The speed at which a vehicle travels directly influences the risk of a crash and the severity of injuries and likelihood of death.”

He noted that the Police are strengthening operations on speeding using the already deployed speed guns and CCTV Cameras. The cameras capture the violators who are blacklisted and then traced for.

Kananura further stressed that the police have continued to sensitize the masses on the dangers of speeding on roads by issuing road safety messages in the form of stickers about the dangers of speed e.g. “speed kills” go slow your family is waiting” etc.

He said other causes are drunk driving, distracted driving, improper overtaking, not using seat belts and helmet usage.