A total of 58 people died in road accidents during the Christmas festive season from December 23 to 26, according to police.
ASP Nampiima Faridah, the spokesperson of the Police Directorate of Traffic and Road Safety, on Monday told reporters at the police headquarters in Naguru that 195 accidents occurred during the festive season and out of these 51 were fatal, 93 were serious and 51 were minor.
“There were 248 accident victims during the festive season and out of these, 58 persons died and 190 sustained injuries,” Nampiima said on Monday.
She said of the victims killed, 7 were drivers, 17 motor cyclists, 4 pedal cyclists, 12 were passengers in motor cycles, 1 passenger on heavy omnibus, 4 passengers on other vehicles and 13 pedestrians.
A total of 190 people sustained serious injuries.
Reckless driving caused most of the accidents accounting for 171 accidents of the total 195. Other causes were careless pedestrian and hit and run.
Most of the accidents (95) occurred in the Kampala Metropolitan area and the rest in upcountry.
ASP Nampiima notes that during the festive season, a total of 3,070 traffic offenders were arrested at various checkpoints on various offences including reckless driving, speeding, not wearing seatbelts and invalid licences.
Last year’s annual crime report indicated that there was a 4.7% reduction in the number of crashes reported in 2020 from 12,858 crashes reported in 2019 to 12,249 crashes reported in 2020.
During the period, 3,269 crashes were fatal, 5,803 were serious and 3,177 were minor. The month of December had the highest number of crashes with 1,445 crashes, out of which, 449 were fatal.