The Traffic and Road Safety Directorate has joined a campaign for road safety awareness among the youth, after a recent annual traffic report indicated that young people accounted for a significant proportion of the total number of road crash fatalities.
The annual police crime report released in March 2026, showed that atleast 5,383 Ugandans were killed in road crashes in 2025, with young people below the age of 30 accounting for a significant proportion of the deaths, raising fresh concerns over road safety.
The directorate’s spokesperson Superintendent of Police Michael Kananura, said the country loses an average of 15 people every day to road crashes, warning that reckless driving, speeding, dangerous overtaking and driving under the influence of alcohol continue to endanger lives.
He made the remarks during a press conference held in Kampala ahead of the Joe Walker Remembrance Walk scheduled for November 14, which seeks to honour victims of road crashes and raise public awareness about road safety.
“Crashes are real, and indeed, people are perishing on our roads. We lost 5,383 people in 2025. Dividing that by the number of days in a year, the average gets to 15 people every day,” Mr Kananura said.
He added that 18,444 people sustained serious injuries during the same period, noting that the impact of road crashes extends beyond the victims to families left behind, including widows, widowers and orphans.
Mr Kananura said careless overtaking and speeding account for close to 50 per cent of road crashes, while human error contributes to about 95 per cent of the causes.
He identified the Kampala metropolitan areas, including the southern, eastern and northern corridors, alongside other regions, among the areas recording high numbers of fatalities.
December recorded the highest number of crashes, while Friday, Saturday and Sunday registered more deaths than other days of the week. The period between 6pm and 8pm was also identified as particularly dangerous.
Mr. Kananura attributed the weekend fatalities partly to drunk driving, saying police operations had continued to encounter motorists driving under the influence of alcohol.
He cautioned motorists against speeding and overtaking at corners, pedestrian crossings and other areas where visibility is limited. He also warned content creators against recording videos while driving, urging them to avoid distractions behind the wheel.
“We would not want to prioritise enforcement when we can speak to people first. But if you refuse to listen, then we get to plan B, which is enforcement,” he said.
He added that police would intensify operations against reckless boda boda riders, particularly those driving against traffic, warning that offenders risk arrest and having their motorcycles impounded.
Meanwhile, Joe Walker, whose real name is Joseph Beyanga- the founder of the Joe Walker Foundation, said the November 14 walk, which will start at 6am from Sheraton Kampala Hotel, would provide an opportunity for Ugandans to remember those killed on the roads and demand safer transport systems.
He said the 5,383 people killed in 2025 should not be treated as mere statistics because each death represents a family member, breadwinner or child whose loss affects an entire community.
“On November 14, at 6am, when we meet here at Sheraton, we will take a moment to stop and remember. Not numbers, but individuals who have been killed on the road,” he said.
Mr. Beyanga said 85 per cent of road crash victims are men, many of whom are breadwinners, leaving families struggling after their deaths.
He also raised concern over the safety of pedestrians and boda boda users, saying transport infrastructure does not adequately reflect how most Kampala residents travel.
Citing 2021 statistics, he said more than 50 per cent of Kampala’s daytime population of about 4.6 million people rely on walking as their main means of transport, while boda bodas account for about 30 per cent.
He said only about 300 kilometres of Kampala’s estimated 1,200 kilometres of roads are tarmacked, calling on the Ministry of Works and Transport and Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) to prioritise pedestrian-friendly infrastructure when planning and constructing roads.
Mr. Beyanga added that boda bodas accounted for 46 per cent of road deaths in 2025, while more than 67 per cent of patients admitted to hospital casualty wards following road crashes were motorcycle victims.
He called on the government to improve motorcycle safety rather than simply seek to eliminate boda bodas, which he described as an important source of employment and affordable transport.
“Motorcycles don’t kill people. It is the way we are using motorcycles that is killing people. Make the motorcycle safe,” he said.
The Joe Walker Foundation, which works with police and private-sector partners to promote road safety, seeks to use the remembrance walk to re-echo calls for responsible road use and improved infrastructure to ensure every journey ends safely.
