The country is still reeling with shock from the recent grisly accident that left 30 people dead. Everyone keeps asking why the carnage on our roads just keeps showing no sign of abating.

It is a fact that the rate of traffic accidents in Uganda is among the highest in Africa with serious implications for the socioeconomic landscape.

According to police statistics, Uganda has the highest number of people dying in road accidents in the Great Lakes region. The total fatalities of road accidents stood at 14,290 in 2006, according to the latest police statistics, with almost 10,000 seriously injured.

According to the Ministry of Works and Transport, more than Shs333 billion is the estimated cost of accidents to the country annually, which includes the cost of the vehicles, medical bills and loss of income and property.

Not a day passes without a report about a fatal accident on one of Uganda's killer highways. The usual culprits are known: Kampala-Masaka highway, Kampala-Jinja, Kampala-Entebbe. Kampala-Mityana and Kampala-Gulu. They are increasingly becoming notorious killing fields.

Of course the causes of these accidents are also well known; they include reckless driving/over-speeding, overloading, vehicles in dangerous mechanical condition, the appalling state of roads and lack of road signs.

Everyone is now wondering what is being done or rather what it is that is not being done to curtail this road carnage. Once in a while, the police mount crackdowns on errant motorists, but these have been of no benefit because they are done in a haphazard manner and not based on any empirical and pragmatic parameters. For example, the police operations on seat belts and speed governors were carried out for a short time and have since been abandoned. They never yielded any tangible results. Why?

What is lacking, in my view, is a comprehensive and empirical study to identify the gaps and shortcomings in our legal and road use systems that could be propagating the road carnage. For example, the Ministry of Works and Transport together with the private sector players and the transport associations could commission a study on any of the major killer roads.

Using police records and field data, the research team should be able to identify key factors that are making our motorways prone to accidents. For example, the researchers could work with the Uganda Tax Operators and Drivers Association (Utoda) and the Uganda Bus Operators Association (Uboa) to identify key human resource and vehicle constraints that are contributing to the rising rate of accidents on our roads.

The researchers should then be able to put across recommendations and suggest best key practices that should be of great value to the police, the Ministry of Works and Transport and the other stakeholders to ensure safety on the roads across the country.

The findings of the study should be used a basis for drastic reforms in road usage systems and transport regulation. The deaths and loss of property on Ugandan roads have become totally unbearable and unacceptable. Something must be done urgently.

The writer is a journalist