Day Two: Wobulenzi-Luwero stretch, a disaster waiting to happen
The stretch between Wobulenzi and Luwero is a big disaster waiting to happen: too many schools, many speeding cars, poorly marked roads, no speed barriers, boda bodas loaded with children being dropped off at different schools, many children in different shades of uniform walking in different directions and numerous “traffic wardens” helping them cross the road at different points.
That’s the scene that opened the chapter of #JoeWalker Kampala to Gulu road safety awareness walk.
After a brief introduction to the heat on day one, we purposed to hit the road early today and be off the road before the sun unleashed its full fury. The intentions were great and logical, the reality was a reminder that sleep remains one of the strongholds yet to be conquered. The desire was to be on the road at 5:30am, but we set off at 5:55am.
We spent the night in Bombo some 200 metres off the road. All through the night I could hear vehicle after vehicle zooming past. The night seems to have heavy fast-moving traffic on this Gulu highway. I now know why we have registered so many fatal crashes on this road at night, all our enforcement measures are limited to manual interventions and the Police is normally off the road by 7pm and they don’t return until daylight the following day. We need to rethink what can be done in the night if we want better results.
As we walked out of Wobulenzi at 8am at a snail pace, we all noted that the last Zebra crossing point on this road was last seen somewhere in Kawempe, some 60km plus behind us.
We rolled on like hungry lions chasing mileage with a target to get off the road before the heat set in. In Luwero town, you just can’t miss the chaos. Taxis parking halfway on the pedestrian walkway and halfway on the road. Vendors scampering around running for their dear lives from a speeding random convoy of private SUVs with army escorts blaring loud sirens.
When she children have settled at school, the bodas turn to ferrying goods and produce. They load as dangerously as they do with school-going children. The story is the same with trucks carrying livestock. And all of them pass the Police checkpoint.
It is worse at the checkpoint. There’s a market on both sides of the road and many vehicles stop by to buy fresh produce and roadside snacks. Most of them stop the way taxis in most towns do. And the vendors risk it all in a rat race to make a sale. Down on the highway speeding vehicles are still zooming through.
There are signs indicating slow speeds but they are not followed. No wonder vendors are crying for installation of speed humps.
As we retire for the day, I am reflecting on all these observations, remembering conversations with Traffic Police officers, boda riders, and school “traffic wardens”. I wonder, is any of these things new to the relevant authorities or we are simply not putting value to life and are living everything to fate?
Don’t be deceived, in 2024, 5,144 people were killed in ROAD CRASHES and these were not accidents.
