By Christopher Oola
Boda boda riders are a major source of road accidents in Gulu city, accounting for eight out of every 10 road crashes being registered by police in the city.
Last week alone, two cyclists perished and 10 sustained serious injuries in Gulu city road crash incidences.
Patrick Lacen Otika, the officer in charge of traffic Gulu city, says the boda boda cyclists have been topping the list of road crashes since last year. According to Otika, speeding, careless taking over and lack of knowledge of the road signage were some of the causes of road crashes in the country.
But the leadership of the cyclists attribute the high number of road crashes involving their members to depression, drug abuse, poverty, speeding, gender based violence and lack of knowledge of the road signage among other factors.
According to police crime report 2023, Aswa West region registered 627 road crashes with 103 fatal, 347 serious and 177 were minor road crashes. The report further shows that 13,386 motorcycles were involved in road crashes and out of that 2,498 were fatal, 9,668 were serious and 1,220 were minor.
