For the pupils of King David Junior School, the trip to Sipi Falls was supposed to be an educational adventure. Instead, the journey ended in tragedy.
In July, the school bus carrying the children crashed in Kapchorwa as it returned from the trip. More than 20 pupils and an adult were killed, while several others were injured.
The crash renewed questions that Uganda has wrestled with for years: Are school buses safe? Are drivers working beyond their limits? Are vehicles properly maintained? And are traffic laws enforced before, rather than after, lives are lost? The questions are bigger than one school bus.
Uganda recorded 26,044 road crashes in 2025, up from 25,107 in 2024, according to the Uganda Police Force Annual Crime Report. Deaths rose from 5,144 to 5,383, while 18,444 people were seriously injured.
Motorcyclists accounted for 2,525 deaths, indicating that the road-safety crisis reaches far beyond buses and trucks.
Now, following a series of crashes and dangerous transport practices, government is tightening enforcement.
Police tighten the net
The Directorate of Traffic and Road Safety has intensified nationwide checks on public service vehicles, focusing on route charts, roadworthiness, driver qualifications and other transport regulations.
Traffic Police spokesperson SP Michael Kananura says officers intercepted and impounded 51 buses at highway checkpoints in one week. Of these, 41 were operating outside their approved route charts, while 10 failed to meet requirements, including valid driving licences, driver badges and identification photographs. Several drivers were taken to court.
Kananura says route charts are more than paperwork. They regulate departure and return journeys and are intended to prevent unauthorised trips, reduce driver fatigue and discourage competition that can encourage risky driving.
The enforcement has also exposed a wider problem: rules can exist on paper, but their value depends on whether they are followed consistently.
Police have warned that officers who knowingly allow non-compliant vehicles through checkpoints will also be held accountable.
Watching drivers closely
One proposed change could take road checks beyond the roadside. The Ministry of Works and Transport is considering an electronic clocking-in system for public service vehicle drivers to monitor their working hours.
The idea addresses a risk that a routine inspection cannot easily detect. A driver can have a valid licence, a roadworthy vehicle and all the required papers, yet still be too tired to drive safely.
An electronic record of when a driver starts and ends journeys could help authorities identify operators who breach working-hour requirements.
Road safety specialist Benson Kilama says monitoring driver hours could help prevent fatigue, particularly where drivers make return journeys. But, he says, such a system will only work if operators cannot bypass it and authorities follow up on violations.
For passengers, that distinction matters. A bus may look perfectly safe from the outside, while the person behind the wheel may have been driving for hours.
Children remain vulnerable
Recent enforcement operations show how easily children can be exposed to unnecessary risks.
On July 30, Traffic Police in Old Kampala stopped a Toyota HiAce carrying 36 pupils to a swimming activity after a member of the public raised an alarm. The driver was arrested and taken to court. The teacher accompanying the pupils was still being sought, while school administrators were summoned to record statements.
In Gomba, police intercepted a Fuso truck carrying 221 people, including pupils, teachers and support staff from two primary schools. They were travelling to Lugaaga Village for zonal ball games.
The pupils were returned to their schools using appropriate transport. The driver was detained, while the head teachers of the two schools, who authorised the journey, were also detained.
In Jinja, another Toyota HiAce carrying 28 pupils from Buikwe for a football tournament was intercepted.
The cases are a reminder that unsafe school transport is not simply a driver problem. School administrators, teachers, parents and transport providers all have a role in ensuring children travel in suitable, properly maintained vehicles without dangerous overloading.
Driving school instructor and road safety expert James Mulakha says vehicles should undergo thorough mechanical checks and be serviced before long trips.
Heavy trucks face tougher checks
Government’s response is also extending to heavy commercial vehicles. Authorities have introduced mandatory inspections for Sinotruk trucks amid concerns about the roadworthiness of heavy-duty vehicles.
Assistant Commissioner in-charge of Road Transport Regulation and Safety Apollo Kashanku says mechanical checks are necessary because defects on heavily loaded trucks can have serious consequences.
‘These trucks are accident-prone because they carry a lot of tonnage, and we need to inspect and clear them for roadworthiness,’ he says.
The issue, however, should not simply be whether Sinotruks are dangerous. The bigger questions are whether heavy trucks are properly maintained, correctly loaded and driven within safe limits.
Mechanic Richard Kilama says he often encounters problems involving braking systems and gearboxes. On a heavily loaded truck, a brake failure can be catastrophic because of the vehicle’s weight and stopping distance.
Mandatory inspections, he says, can identify defective vehicles before they return to the road and force owners to address problems through preventive maintenance.
Commissioner for Transport Regulation and Safety Winston Katushabe says the ministry will hold a consultative meeting with Sinotruk owners and operators, Traffic Police and other stakeholders on implementing the inspection programme.
The enforcement approach is expected to extend to other categories, including taxi operators, boda boda riders and motor vehicle bond operators.
Enforcement is only part of the answer
After a fatal crash, it is tempting to look for one culprit: the speeding driver, the defective vehicle or the poor road. But crashes rarely have a single cause.
A driver may be speeding while a vehicle has worn brakes, a road has poor lighting or markings, and pedestrians have limited safe places to cross. Each weakness adds to the risk.
This is where the Safe Systems approach becomes important. It treats road safety as a shared responsibility involving roads, vehicles, speeds, enforcement and road-user behaviour to prevent mistakes from becoming deaths.
Makerere University’s Centre for Trauma, Injury and Disability Prevention has brought together road-safety researchers, urban mobility specialists, KCCA, Traffic Police and others to examine why road deaths remain high despite repeated enforcement campaigns.
Road-safety advocate Ziraba Katende of Mukono says Uganda needs better driver training alongside stronger enforcement of vehicle mechanical standards.
He also points to the roads themselves, arguing that widening roads and improving their condition could reduce crashes linked to poor road infrastructure.
The public is increasingly becoming part of this enforcement system too.
Kananura says members of the public have become more vigilant in reporting traffic violations, particularly vehicles carrying children. In the Old Kampala and Gomba cases, public warnings helped authorities intervene before tragedy occurred.
Will the measures work?
Uganda does not lack road-safety laws. It has regulations covering vehicle roadworthiness, driver licensing, seat belts, motorcycle safety and other aspects of road use. The bigger challenge is consistent enforcement.
A route chart cannot prevent fatigue if operators find ways around it. Vehicle inspections mean little if defective trucks return to the road without repairs. Driver-monitoring systems achieve little if they can be manipulated.
The latest enforcement drive should, therefore, be judged by more than vehicles impounded or drivers prosecuted. If measures are consistently enforced, they could save lives. But if enforcement fades, the underlying problem will remain.