In the past one week, a total of 361 accidents were registered on Ugandan roads, the traffic police has said.

Addressing journalists on Monday, traffic police spokesperson, ASP Faridah Nampiima said the accidents happened between February 26 and March 4 around the country .

"These accidents had 322 victims with 71 of these killed and 251 seriously injured,"Nampiima said.

She noted that of the 361 accidents, 64 were fatal, 181 serious and 116 were minor.

Fatal accidents are those that see at least one person killed whereas serious ones are those where people are injured but minor accidents have only vehicles damaged.

According to traffic police, at seven deaths, Kampala Metropolitan North which is headquartered at Kawempe Police station registered the highest number of people who died in road accidents in the past week whereas KMP East and Wamala police region each registered six deaths due to road accidents.

The traffic police spokesperson said the accidents were mostly caused by reckless driving, driving beyond the prescribed speed limit, drifting from one lane to another, driving under the influence of alcohol and driving vehicles while speaking on phone.

Offenders

Nampiima noted that during the same period, traffic police arrested 8653 people and issued them with express penalty tickets for committing several offence while on the road.

She noted that 1226 were arrested for reckless driving, 1478 for driving vehicles in dangerous mechanical condition, 326 for overspeeding and another 379 for driving without seat belts.

The traffic police spokesperson noted that they will continue with operations to ensure discipline on Ugandan roads in the wake of an increase in accidents.