Every school day in Kampala metropolitan, some children are driven to school in vans fully packed beyond the prescribed numbers. Children are forced to carry each other on top of heavy school bags that they shoulder.
The majority of these vans have no supervisors to support children while in transit should anything happen. Schools that afford to have a teacher or assistant to support children during transit are mostly affluent schools. Besides, the unsafe vans are the public taxis, where children that pay less money are squeezed while sharing seats.
The narrow roads coupled with undisciplined driving exacerbate the challenge further, jeopardizing the safety of these children. With limited and marked crossing points, with signs for schoolchildren to safely connect to their schools, children are always scampering for safety at every turn.
The children using commercial motorcycles clutch to the rider in the hope that they arrive at school or home safe. No walkways and where a few exist, there is no respect by the motorists, especially the motorbike riders who act like they always have right of way.
This problem is not exclusive to Kampala or the other major urban centers. The countryside learners also experience safety challenges on the roads, where they must cross to schools usually situated along the country’s major highways.
There are no walkways and defined crossing with the exception of a few humps. Uganda National Roads Authority has tried to install road signs, but these, too, have been routinely stolen or stripped down by the errant public.
During the third National Safety Summit sponsored by Vivo Energy in December 2020, the director of Traffic and Road Safety at the Uganda Police Force, Commissioner Basil Mugisha, reported a 0.4 per cent increase in the number of crashes reported, from 12,805 in 2018 to 12,858 in 2019.
Of these, 3,407 were fatal, 5,992 were serious and 3,459 were minor accidents. Similarly, there was a five per cent increase in the total number of persons killed in 2019, with motorcyclists and their passengers and pedestrians forming the largest number of casualties, according to Vivo Energy’s report of the summit. Annually, it is also reported that about 600 children are killed in road accidents.
These numbers are alarming. As a signatory to the United Nations Resolution on the Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011-2020), which set a target of 50 per cent reduction of road traffic deaths by 2020, the government of Uganda has a road safety policy approved by cabinet in 2014.
This policy ought to be part of the guide, and support expanding considerations for reopening of schools to ensure that our children are safe on the roads. Schools should be required to routinely educate children and undertake drills around road safety measures so that these actions are part of the children’s life skills.
One of the key lessons I learnt while visiting one earthquake-prone country – Ecuador – was the level of preparedness of children for any eventuality at any time. From interactions with the Ecuadorian children as young as six years, they knew the basics of what to do at any immediate eventuality.
This can be replicated in our country. Given that the Road Safety Act 2018 has been amended with very progressive as well as punitive measures aimed at careless driving, overloading, etc, there is need to mount massive road safety campaigns, especially within the public transport system.
Parents too need to be keen and engage with the children regarding their experiences with the kind of transportation they are used to to ensure the child’s safety. Consequently, as government continues to review the schools’ preparedness in compliance with Covid-19 guidelines, children’s safety on the public roads should form part of the review so as to have comprehensive safety and protocols that protect our children from both Covid-19 and the dangers posed on the roads.
There should be emphasis on use of helmets for children on motorbikes while overloading of children in school vans should be strictly prohibited. Driving on pedestrian walkways and designated children’s safety crossings should also be prohibited with punitive measures. Getting compliance right from the public up to the school system level will go a long way in ensuring that the children are fully protected.
The author is the country director, ChildFund International.