Tayebwa Implores Ugandans To Improve Road Safety As Joe Walker Kicks Off New Campaign Dubbed ‘Too Young To Die’

The deputy speaker of Parliament, Thomas Tayebwa has urged VIPs to drive with caution as one way of reducing road crashes on the roads, calling for a collective effort to reduce road carnage in the country.

Tayebwa made the remarks as he flagged off a road safety walk from Kampala to Mbale city in Eastern Uganda by Joseph Beyanga commonly known as Joe Walker, the Head of Radio at the Nation Media Group with the purpose of creating awareness about road safety concerns in the country.

According to Tayebwa, road safety is everyone’s responsibility if road carnage is to be curbed.

“There are matters which require public mobilization. Road accidents, issues of the environment, these are issues that you can’t shoot down with a gun,” Tayebwa said.

He blamed the rampant road accidents countrywide on poor time management saying that the majority of drivers do not plan their travel time well and end up driving recklessly.

Tayebwa applauded Beyanga and called on the citizenry to pick up interest in promoting road safety.

“Recently, I lost a brother-in-law in a road accident. We also lost our brother and his wife, Hon. Patrick Okabe, and very many other people we might not know. What Beyanga is doing is for us. He is bringing core issues to the forefront and this brings out the fact that every citizen has an obligation,” Tayebwa said.

He added that such initiatives compel Parliament to carry out its legislation and appropriation roles for the benefit of the population.

“If someone can sacrifice to walk, then it also put us under pressure to do much more in terms of ensuring that we have laws that can be implemented,” Tayebwa said.

Beyanga said that the walk, themed; ‘Too Young to Die’ mainly targets the young people whom he claims are the majority of causalities of road carnage.   

“More than 60 of the people who perish in road crushes are aged between 25 and 44. So, we are raising awareness to say that each one of us has a role to play in the issues of road safety,” Beyanga said.

Beyanga whose walk is expected to last six days also called on the government to put road safety at the centre of infrastructure development by constructing safe roads.