Fourteen people died in Lwera. Two more died days later in Kakira.
Now, 11 commuter taxi drivers have been arrested for dangerous loading during a night operation at Maya along the Kampala–Masaka highway.
The incidents have renewed scrutiny of Uganda’s taxi industry, where speeding, dangerous overtaking, overloading, fatigue and poor vehicle condition remain common complaints.
Traffic Police spokesperson Michael Kananura said the 11 drivers were intercepted after allegedly trying to exploit night hours to avoid enforcement.
“Many of these offenders deliberately travel at night and dodge checkpoints. Through intelligence-led operations they were intercepted, detained and will be arraigned in court,” Kananura said on Wednesday.
He said dangerous loading is particularly common at night, when some drivers wrongly assume enforcement is minimal.
“We have started a crackdown against dangerous loading and anyone found violating this shall be arrested and prosecuted,” he said.
Kananura warned that carrying excess passengers or loads destabilises vehicles by altering their centre of gravity, increasing the risk of tyre bursts, loss of control and overturning.
“No journey is worth risking human life,” he said.
The arrests follow the Lwera crash in which a commuter taxi collided with a sand-carrying truck, killing all 14 passengers aboard the taxi. Days later, another taxi crashed at Kakira junction on the Jinja-Iganga highway, killing two people and critically injuring several others.
The crashes raise a difficult question, has dangerous taxi driving become too normalised in Uganda? Passengers routinely encounter taxis racing for customers, overtaking on blind corners, stopping abruptly, speeding through trading centres and operating for long hours with little rest.
Uganda recorded 26,044 road crashes in 2025, up from 25,107 in 2024, according to police. More than 5,300 people were killed, while over 40 per cent of crashes were linked to reckless driving.
A new study by Dr Linda Kyomuhendo Jovia, a medical doctor and Master of Public Health graduate from Makerere University School of Public Health, also highlights the pressure surrounding Uganda’s taxi sector.
She estimates that about 400,000 taxis move millions of passengers daily, yet little is known about the psychological pressures facing their drivers.
KCCA crash data cited by Kyomuhendo show that between 2019 and 2024, 1,878 pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists were killed in crashes involving motor vehicles in Kampala.
Buses and minibuses were linked to 281 deaths, including 147 pedestrians and 131 motorcycle occupants. Fatalities were concentrated along major corridors including Jinja road, Kibuye-Natete road, Bombo road and Ggaba road.
Kyomuhendo says the figures reflect a stressful road environment in which taxis, boda bodas, pedestrians and private vehicles constantly compete for space. But stressful conditions cannot excuse reckless behaviour.
Taxi drivers are professional drivers entrusted with passengers’ lives. Speeding, overloading, blind overtaking and driving unroadworthy vehicles are not minor traffic violations; they can turn an ordinary journey into a fatal one.
The message from Lwera, Kakira and the Maya arrests is increasingly difficult to ignore, a disciplined taxi driver gets passengers home. A reckless one can become a potential killer.