What you should do before getting on the road.
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People in Africa facing a really serious detriment in due to the prevailing and daily procedure of road traffic accidents which are a major cause of many deaths and disabilities amongst many people. Most of these are caused by the violation of the traffic rules put in place.
Most people that cause these accidents mostly in Uganda are motorcyclists and a few other vehicles. Most of these motorcyclists are aged between twenty to thirty years of age hence most of them are so arrogant and reckless when it comes to respecting road traffic rules and giving respect to other users of the road for example pedestrians, children, and many others. These motorcycles have been a great disgrace to the peoples of Uganda. The highest numbers of people in hospitals today are victims of motorcycle accidents.
The other cause of motorcycle accidents in are poor roads. Most roads have a large number of potholes which have caused a number of demerits to road users. First of all, the regular hitting of these potholes has led most vehicles on the roads into poor mechanical conditions and there have been most events where vehicles on the road lose control and hit road users causing a number of deaths, injuries and disabilities, and this has affected our economy in one way or another.
Secondly, another demerit of potholes is that they have led to over speeding drivers and careless drivers into accidents. Most drivers try to act dodgy, others try to act as if they are pros on the road and others in some scenarios, due to different world events, engagements, activities people involve themselves in that can cause different state of mind, are just too excited when they get to these potholes and end up causing accidents in the long run. Most especially the people in their late twenties and mid-thirties.
The other people that cause road accidents are, as you may guess, the other road users most especially those who own their private vehicles. Most of these users especially the ones in their young ages are very careless road users. Some of them don’t really know how to take care of their cars (probably very busy to do that) hence leading to poor mechanical car conditions on the road, others are novices to road use and are not well familiar with the road rules and traffic signs, others use substances intended to uplift them and feel confident.
So with all this in mind I always wonder how am I supposed to even cross the road??
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Crossing the road could be a little bit hectic on busy roads and one has to be always watchful when crossing the road. “Look left, look right, look left again,” has always been the slogan here in Uganda which has prevailed for quite a long time and any one who has gained an education here knows that this same slogan could be even a major traffic rule, LOL.
To use the road, one has to make sure, first of all, that they are feeling totally well and are fit to move around without any hardship. If one is not feeling quite well, they could pass out or get unconscious when crossing the road and be knocked down by any traffic which could lead to injuries and or maybe lead to death! By drinking enough water and making regular exercises, one is free from any detriment and possibly fit for the road.
The other reason to consider before using the road is to make sure you constantly watch for bad traffic and avoid early enough any dangerous possibilities that could arise from this kind of traffic. “Prevention is better than cure,” avoiding any signs to a cause of an accident, or harm to road users is by only being cautious and watching out for one another. If one is a vehicle owner, they may reduce their speed, avoid careless driving, make sure their vehicle is in a good mechanical condition and, learn and follow carefully the road safety rules. And with that, everyone is highly safer hence reducing the rate of the number of accidents.