{"id":1066,"date":"2025-05-08T09:54:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T06:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rosacu.org\/?p=1066"},"modified":"2026-07-08T09:56:54","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T06:56:54","slug":"gulu-city-students-take-lead-in-road-safety-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rosacu.org\/?p=1066","title":{"rendered":"Gulu City Students Take Lead in Road Safety Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In Gulu City, Northern Uganda, approximately 99% of school-going children rely on walking and boda-bodas as their primary modes of transportation, exposing them to a high risk of road crashes. These risks are exacerbated by factors such as traffic congestion, inadequate pedestrian infrastructure, reckless driving, and limited road safety education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To address the challenges, Joseph Komakech Ojambo, Executive Director of Responsive Drivers Uganda (ReDU), said the organization partnered with the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), with funding from UN Habitat, to implement a seven-month pilot project titled “Safe Journey to School Road Safety MYCITY-MYLIFE,” focusing on improving safety and accessibility in three schools: Mother Angioletta Primary School, Mama Cave Primary School, and Gulu Primary School. These schools are situated along the busy Gulu-Juba-Sudan highway, with heavy truck, trailer, and bus traffic flowing to and from both directions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 7-month pilot, which kicked off in 2024 and ended in February 2025, involved data collection, followed by the implementation of safe pedestrian crossing pathways, installation of signage, and several road safety education initiatives. Three Road Safety Clubs were also formed, and three Lollipop wardens were recruited. ReDU, through schools, encouraged parents to contribute 2,000 Ugandan shillings to facilitate the wardens in implementing safer walking routes while helping children cross. The presence of the wardens will encourage responsible driver behavior around schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project had a substantial positive impact of<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. 90% road signage adherence.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Zero child casualties.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Reduced road crashes with only 4 incidents<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. 96.7% road safety awareness among pupils.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Rsk Factors in School Zones Requiring Urgent Intervention<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Roadside businesses in school zones, including boda-boda stages, markets, woodwork, bars, and restaurants, pose significant risks, reducing road capacity and increasing congestion, crashes, and fatalities. An example is boda-boda operators, who are often unskilled and unfamiliar with traffic rules. This group exacerbates the problem by parking on the roadside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Suggestions;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. Annual school road safety competitions to enhance awareness and encourage student participation in road safety.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Annual refresher training for teachers<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. Ministry collaboration in enforcement.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    4. Upgrading school zone infrastructure.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    5. Refresher training for traffic officers on school zone safety.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    6. Schools to implement structured pick-up and drop-off policies.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    7. Enforce 30 km speed in school zones.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Ministry Pledges Support for Road Safety Initiative<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Ms. Judith Kararah, Representative from the Ministry of Works and Transport, launched the “Safe Journey to School” project and pledged the ministry’s support and interventions. She emphasized that the pilot’s findings and success story would serve as a model for similar initiatives across Uganda and Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being): reducing road injuries and deaths<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      SDG 4 (Quality Education): ensuring safer access to schools<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities):promoting safe, inclusive, and accessible urban transport systems for all,especially vulnerable groups like children<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      In Gulu City, Northern Uganda, approximately 99% of school-going children rely on walking and boda-bodas as their primary modes of transportation, exposing them to a high risk of road crashes. These risks are exacerbated by factors such as traffic congestion, inadequate pedestrian infrastructure, reckless driving, and limited road safety education. To address the challenges, Joseph […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rosacu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rosacu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rosacu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rosacu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rosacu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1066"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rosacu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1068,"href":"https:\/\/rosacu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1066\/revisions\/1068"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rosacu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rosacu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rosacu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rosacu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}