Over 400 road crashes have occurred between last week and now in which 80 victims have lost their lives. In a bid to control the fatalities happening on the roads, Uganda police in partnership with Uganda National Roads Authority and other stakeholders have launched fika Salama extra, an operation in which police will be curbing errant drivers and taking them to court over traffic offences committed while on the road. UNRA is at the forefront of this operation and an official from this government talked to us about what to expect in this operation.

Fika Salama was first launched in 2016 following a period of rampant road accidents and the results were visible because accidents were reduced due to police being present on the road. Drivers have since deteriorated and gone back to committing traffic offences like careless overtaking and overspeeding which continue to be the lead causes of crashes. In efforts to reduce road accidents, Uganda police in partnership with UNRA, the Ministry of Works and Transport and the Ministry of Health has launched a campaign dubbed Fika Salama Extra in which they will focus on streamlining drivers back to the road safety rules and regulations. Uganda's national roads authority has a huge role to play in the operation and COU Family Tv spoke to Sarah Nduhukire a traffic and roads officer who opened up about the campaign.

In regards to the UNRAs mandate, Sarah highlights the duty that they have as a government entity in charge of roads and how exactly they have been able to carry it out.

Sarah also warns road users who have continually abused the Kampala Entebbe Express highway to abide by the traffic rules in order to avoid crashes. She cautions the people who use this road to stick to the prescribed speed limit of 100km/hr.

Commenting about fika Salama extra in which UNRA is a stakeholder, Sarah points out the importance of a sober mind while using the road and how dangerous some traffic offences might be to one's life but also to the lives of other road users and how the operation is going to be carried out.

There are roads that take a lot of time being worked on and Sarah says much as the government doesn’t have ready resources to work on roads regularly, UNRA as an entity tries to complete a given road within a specific time span noting that there is a number of factors as to why a road takes a long time to be worked on.

Fika Salama Extra, an operation by police to curb traffic offenders kicked off today morning across the whole country and it is set to be carried out for the next six months.