Day Nine: We’re almost there
By Joe Walker
The Kampala to Gulu #JoeWalker road safety walk set off at 6:30am from Kamdini. We transversed Nwoya, Oyam, and Omoro districts, and after 40km, we are done for the day.
Nine days since we started, so far, we’ve covered 331km. All through this walk, for every stretch, every police checkpoint, all the chats with boda boda riders, drivers or roadside market vendors, the cries are literally the same including;
– Speeding
– Narrow road
– Unsafe or no infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians
And that was the story as we literally crawled from Kamdini to Bobi.
At Kamdini, by 6:30am, the traffic officers were already up and on duty. This was a first. Well done. As we walked past, they were already busy helping school children cross the road as others did the routine checks on motorists. Unfortunately, the poor children just like us, once on the other side of the road, had to compete with cars and bodas for foot space on the road. Kamdini is no longer a village, it’s another fast-growing urban area and it needs befitting safe infrastructure for all road users.
As we strolled out of Kamdini, I was excited to see Zebra crossings around school zones, which is the case for every school on this stretch. We now need to make it safer with the right signage.
The heat was hot today… but we hung on. Slowly, step by step we got to our day’s rest point.
It’s all been passion and resilience. The same that we need, to deal with the inconsiderate speeding motorists who casually overtake in corners. It’s getting out of hand.
It’s the same message I passed on the Gulu City Woman MP to take to Parliament. If we continue neglecting road safety, we’ll pay a way higher price as individuals, families, societies, the Church and the nation.
Road safety is everyone’s responsibility.
For now, we are camped in Bobi, recharging the legs and hopefully we will lift off for the final attack tomorrow morning.
