Day four: An unfriendly stretch for pedestrians
The #JoeWalker Kampala to Gulu road safety walk kicked off at 6:15am at Nakasongola and we are now docked in Migyera for the day.
This is an interesting stretch so far. There is very light human traffic, lots of speeding vehicles, and animals crossing the road. It’s a bit unfriendly for pedestrians.
Whether the road speed signs reads 50 or 80, the cars just fly past at insane speeds. One traffic officer Afande Baluku said he has even stopped someone who was flying at 160km/hr and her argument was that there were no people near the road, so what was the big deal. No wonder crashes along this stretch normally record high fatalities.
Add to all that madness, unforgiving roads. Many, including police traffic officers, have called it narrow. It has rather steep curves and deep trenches. I think wide shoulders, gentle slopes, safety barriers and more visible clear markings would make it safer and change the narrative.
With the sun shining hotter and hitting records of 36 degrees Celsius, we stopped our trek at midday, rested, refreshed and shall attack the road again tomorrow morning. Just like the journey to make our roads safe, it’s hot grueling and taxing, but carefully we are pressing on one step at a time.
