On Wednesday, December 7th, over 100 Boda Bodas in Mpigi based along Kampala-Masaka Highway at 3 black spot areas received training in road safety and First Aid as part of our Ondaba Road Safety campaign in partnership with the Ministry of Works & Transport, Uganda Police, Red Cross Society of Uganda & Consult Africa Usalama. This falls under Road Safety week being commemorated this week under the theme, “Together for Boda Boda Safety”  which shines the spotlight on Boda Bodas. According to statistics by Uganda Traffic Police, in the last 10 months, there have been over 8781 accidents caused by boda bodas. 1148 boda boda riders have died and 448 passengers died while over 5973 people sustained serious injuries.

ASP Faridah Nampiima, Spokesperson Uganda Traffic Police, and the chief guest of the event cautioned the participants on safe road behaviour and gave guidelines on the different regulations in place. Veteran Road Safety Trainer Paul Kwamusi, from Integrated Transport Systems tackled the different aspects of safe road behavior while Uganda Red Cross Society carried out training on First Aid and post-crash care given that Boda Bodas are often the first responders at the scene of accidents.

Representing MoWT, Judith Karara shared guidelines on road use along highways and donated the Highway Code booklet in vernacular and road sign charts to guide the riders. The Boda boda leadership in Mpigi pledged to be ambassadors of road safety. We donated reflector jackets and First Aid kits to the Boda Bodas in attendance.

The #OndabaRoadSafety campaign will run throughout this month, creating awareness on road safety.