The Minister of Works and Transport, Gen Katumba Wamala has called for concerted efforts to promote road safety awareness in the country.
The minister, who was speaking at the flag-off of Joe Walker and friends Kampala to Fort Portal road safety trek on Monday morning lauded the group for the initiative before asking Ugandans to cooperate in restoring sanity on the roads.
“He has come as an individual to work together with the ministry on Road safety. We highly appreciate him and the team but we also appreciate the media houses because they have also been out there promoting road safety. Road safety is a responsibility of all of us. It is not about the ministry setting laws, it’s about every one of us getting involved and feeling for the other road users,” said Katumba.
The group is expected to cover over 300 kilometers in the next 9 days as part of their road safety awareness drive.
Addressing journalists before hitting the road, road safety advocate Mr Joseph Beyanga commonly known as Joe Walker highlighted the statistics of Kampala road users, urging Ugandans to train school-going children on the basics of road safety.
“If you look at our roads, they are purely designed for vehicles. Over 50% of the people who get into the city every day are walking. Over 15% or so are using boda bodas. Where’s the infrastructure for the 65% of the road users? It doesn’t exist. If you are not walking with us, make sure you participate by driving carefully, observe and respect the road signage,” Beyanga said.
The walk is Joe Walker’s third national trek after the Kampala to Bushenyi in 2022 and Mbale in 2023.
