UGANDANS AND OTHER VISITORS TO THIS PEARL OF AFRICA ARE ADVISED TO USE THEIR MOBILE PHONES TO DETECT THE RELIABILITY OF MOTOR VEHICLES, BUSES OR MOTOR CYCLES AS WELL AS THE COMPETENCY OF THE DRIVERS AND RIDERS TO USE WHEN TRAVELLING ON UGANDAN ROADS.

BACKGROUND

Many Ugandans including myself have been watching the HIGH RATE of Road carnage on Ugandan Roads in dis-belief, but stop at a blame game of GOVERNMENT HAS FAILED. It takes one a high degree of madness to be the first one to think of a crazy solution because to many of my friends I have shared this-was like "whom do you think you are-forget about that, you cant make a change-who are you anyway-so they ask, and indeed whom am I anyway"

To me the Internet is a wonderful resource that one night while on the internet, I stambled into the speech below and it was my "short GUN" to start a peoples war to know their rights to knowledge regarding the vehicles/Boda Bodas they travel in/on or those that drive on Ugandan roads. To begin with, before you Jump into that Bus, Taxi, Motor Vehichle or Motor Cycle verify its status by sending a message to 7197-that message you send is so, so cheap that it will either save your life or it will discipline that driver because your life is valuable and you know it first before any one else-You are valuable to Uganda. Below is the speech;

MAKE ROADS SAFE AFRICA 2009 CONFERENCE 8TH JULY 2009 DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA
Statement
By
Hon John Nasasira
Former Minister of Works and Transport – Uganda
HRH Prince Michael of Kent GCVO, Patron, Commission for Global Road Safety

Your Excellencies, Ministers and Representatives of Governments, The Representative of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, Representatives of the Development Partners, Mr. David Ward, Director General FIA Foundation, Michelle Yeoh, Global Ambassador, Make Roads Safe Campaign. The President Automobile Association of Tanzania, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen.

Mr. Chairman,
I would like to thank the Commission for Global Road Safety for inviting me to participate in this high level Road Safety Conference. I would also like to thank the United Nations Economic, Commission for Africa, the Automobile Association of Tanzania and the World Bank Global Road Safety Facility who are the Joint Organizers of this Conference. Last but not
least, I would like to thank the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania for hosting this conference as Africa prepares to join the rest of the World in Moscow when the United Nations host the first ever Ministerial level meeting on road safety in November this year.

Africa has the world’s highest road deaths and injuries which impose a huge economic burden on our developing economies. This Dar es Salaam conference therefore gives us an opportunity, as Africa, to finalise our plan for a new vision for road safety in Africa and the World. A plan that we will carry to Moscow and share it with the rest of the world and ensure that deaths and injuries on our roads are at least halved in the next decade.
Situation on Road Safety in Uganda. The road safety condition in Uganda is still unsatisfactory and road accidents, fatalities and injury have been increasing during the last 10 years. In 2000 there were 14,390 reported accidents with 1,438 fatalities and 12,946 injuries compared to 2008 which had 18,250 reported accidents, 2,334 fatalities and 12,076
injuries. This shows an increase of 62% in 8 years or 7% per year. However, it is important to note that during the period 2000 to 2008, the vehicles on our roads doubled. Statistically, the fatalities per 10,000 vehicles reduced from 88 in 2000 to 64 in 2007.

According to Injury Control Centre Uganda (ICCU) community survey, the top three causes of severe injuries among urban children (less than 18 years) in Uganda are traffic (46%), falls (14%) and burns (11%). In Uganda, about 400 children die and about 1,200 are seriously injured on our roads every year. It has been estimated that road accidents in Uganda cost
about 2.7% of our GDP in terms of lives, injury, vehicle and other property lost.