John K. Abimanyi
4 November 2008
When a bus and a trailer collided on October 17, killing over 30 people, it took less than 10 hours for the residents of Bulyantete to witness another accident; a maize truck collided with a trailer and veered off the road.
The town saw three accidents on that fateful day. 10 days later, another truck carrying oranges swerved off the road, 50 metres away from the spot where the 30 people perished.
This cycle of re-occurring accidents tells the story of Bulyantete. It has witnessed over 12 accidents in the past two months.
Found in the middle of sugarcane plantations just after Lugazi town, on your way to Jinja, Bulyantete forms an 800-metre stretch of the Kampala-Jinja highway. The stretch is trapped in between two long slopes.
This makes for the high speed of most cars along the stretch because vehicles using the road gain momentum as they descend into the valley. "By the time they get here (valley), they are moving at a very high speed and that is why they collide," Isaiah Aliwaali, a Bulyantete resident says.
The slopes, which are reasonably wide, contract as they settle into the valley, creating a narrow passage for the vehicles at a point when they are racing at high speed.
The road is characterised by bumps that could easily toss a vehicle off the road when travelling at a high speed. On many occasions, cars driving through the valley can seem like they are dancing as they negotiate the bumps on the road.
Although the road is in a valley, it is raised high above the sugarcane plantations that border it on either sides. Because of this, "any car that swerves off the road ends up in an accident," adds Aliwaali.
According to the residents of the town, the leading cause of accidents in Bulyantete, is the guard-less pass-over bridge. "It is at the start of this bridge that the road narrows in and yet there are no barriers to protect the vehicles from falling over into the sugarcane," says Moses Omutaaka who washes cars 50 metres away. The bridge allows for a tunnel below that is mainly used by sugarcane trucks to and from the plantations.
According to Aliwaali, the bridge's guards were washed away by an accident many years back. "There used to be metallic guards on the bridge but when a Fuso crashed them some years ago, they were never fixed. We have been complaining but nothing has been done about it," he says.
A trailer and a mini bus after a head on collision at Kikawula 40km east of Kampala which killed 30 people on July 31 , 2006.
Alfred Wakabi who also works at the washing bay says: "there are many accidents at this place because cars approach it while driving in free gear and slopping at a very high speed. Yet the pass-over bridge is very narrow". His words are resounded by the area's L.C1 chairperson, Saidi Musoke, who says, "The problem is that the road is a highway, which is very narrow.
They should either enlarge it or put humps". Bulyantete is a place that has been defined by accidents. Along the entire stretch, remains numerous vehicles that have succumbed to accidents and seen darted in countless directions.
Shattered windscreens, broken seats, bags of wasted cement and other car parts make a strong presence. As Aliwaali took us through the town, he endlessly pointed at various points of the road where an accident had occurred. He didn't seem to recall them all.
Large tracks off the road and disappearing into the vegetation, created by the struggles of many cars against the forces of fate, still stand, acting as painful reminders of the many lives that have been lost at the site.
The residents of the town have now become accustomed to seeing accidents in their vicinity. "We are now used to having accidents on the road," says Magid Lutakoome who works in the nearby sugar plantations. His sentiments are shared by John Mukiibi who works at a washing bay close by. "We are not moved by an accident the way someone in Kampala will be, but the recent tragedy would scare anyone," he says.
Although the residents sound unmoved by the fatal events in their court yard, they are now worried about their safety. "Apart from the big accidents you hear about in the media, there are many more accidents that occur here to those who walk along the road," says Aliwaali.
He adds that most of them are pupils and cyclists. Mr Musoke cannot deny that the rate at which accidents take place in the area is worrying.
"We are now tense because many of our people die here every other day," he says. A sense of feeling neglected can be detected from the words of the Bulyantete residents. "This place is a black spot but no one seems willing to do anything about it," says Aliwaali.
The Public Relations Officer for the Ministry of Works and Transport, Ms Susan Kataike, however defends her ministry saying: "It's not that government is not working.
We are doing our best to work on black spots countrywide but our budget limits us from doing everything at once.
"It is those people who stay in those places who go and uproot the guard rails and use them for making sigiri ( charcoal stove)."
On the day we visited the site, a total of four traffic police officers were on ground. It was 10:00 a.m. and the cars were passing by at a slow pace. By 12:30 p.m., the cops had left and the cars, buses in particular, were now sprinting.
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