Kampala — On Friday morning seven-year-old Gordon Mwesigwa was hit by a speeding truck in Nansana on the Kampala-Hoima Road.

Mwesigwa was the fourth person to be killed by a speeding vehicle within a month at the very spot. The residents were so incensed that they dug up the road and lit fires in it, effectively blocking it.

In order to restore order, the Police were sent to the scene. Tear gas would not disperse them. When they failed to control the situation, the anti-riot Police fired live bullets in the air.

The residents would not relent and engaged the Police for over an hour! Carnage has become synonymous with Uganda's roads caused by either unfettered recklessness or by the terrible state of the roads. The firing of live bullets to quell the chaos was unwise and could have resulted in more deaths. The Police should have waited for tempers to calm down.

After all, the action of the residents was a cry of desperation and protest against the spate of road accidents on Uganda's roads. This is unfortunate because it seems to suggest that there is nobody in control! It appears it is the population that must now do something about the road traffic incidents.

A recent accident involvin a bus and a lorry near Lugazi, claimed 30 lives while last year at Kitega on the same road, 30 people perished when a Costa collided with a lorry.

A war must be declared on road accidents. The churches and mosques should preach against these accidents and consider them at par with sin, curse, and the devil because that is what they have become!

The cool-headed intervention of Kampala Extra Police boss, Edward Ochom, who ordered the Police to stop shooting was commendable.

Speed humps on the spot could have prevented the loss of precious lives. Is that too much to expect from the transport ministry?