Motorcyclists killed in road accidents have topped annual fatalities statistics for the first time in the history of traffic in Uganda.
Of the 4,159 road accident fatalities countrywide, 1,390 were motorcyclists while 528 were passengers on motorcycles, according to the 2021 Annual Crime and Traffic/Road Safety report.

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Pedestrians, who have for more than two decades been topping the number of fatalities in road accidents, came second with 1,384 cases last year.
According to the Annual Crime and Traffic/Road Safety report, the fatalities among motorcyclists and their passengers were 1,918, reflecting a 46 percent of all road accident fatalities.
The acting director of traffic and road safety, Mr Lawrence Nuwabiine, said the problem on Ugandan roads rest on the motorcycle.

“One can locate the problem on our roads. The motorcycles are killing people. In the first place, they are killing them, the riders, and they are killing most of the passengers,” Mr Nuwabiine said yesterday during the release of the crime report for 2021.
Police attribute the high cases of fatalities and injuries among motorcyclists to indiscipline.
A survey by Uganda Road Fund released on Tuesday indicated that only one of every 10 riders received riding training from a professional instructor.

In general the road crashes increased last year at 42 percent despite the fact that vehicle movements were restricted by the government due to a lock down to contain the spread of coronavirus.
At least 17,000 crashes were registered in 2021 compared to 12,000 in 2020.
Mr Nuwabiine said 4,159 people were killed in crashes last year compared to 3,663 registered in 2020.
The road accidents left another 13,876 people with injuries in the same period.

Of the 1,005 passengers from all vehicles, who died in road accidents, 528 were on motorcycles.
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Mr Nuwabiine called for collective action to curb accidents on the road.
At least 6,770 motorcyclists and their passengers suffered serious injuries during the accidents in 2021, which nearly twice the number registered in 2020.
This means motorcycle accidents contributed half of all serious injuries countrywide.

The report indicates that minibus and buses had the least fatalities and injuries with only 29 people killed and 151 others injured.
Mr Nuwabiine said most accidents were caused by indiscipline with reckless driving with 76 per cent and careless driving with six per cent as the major causes.
“A total of 336,722 traffic offenders were arrested for various offences committed in 2021,” he said.
The traffic police issued express penalty scheme tickets worth Shs26b of which Shs19.9b was paid.

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