The Speaker of Uganda’s Parliament the Right Honorable Rebecca Kadaga launched the country’s Road Safety Legislative Action Plan which is arguably the first of its kind in Africa. The plan is aimed at generating legislative action to address road safety policy development, enactment, implementation and evaluation.

The design of the plan was informed by a gap analysis that was carried out in Uganda's current Traffic and Road Safety Act as well as best practices in road design. It will be implemented by Safe Way Right Way, a World Bank project intended to advocate for the reduction of road traffic accidents in line with recommendations of the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011-2020).

In her remarks, the Speaker called for vigilance in vehicle and road inspection, saying “we need to empower the police to carry out vehicle inspection. In parliament, I will implore the Members to discuss road safety as a matter of national importance, because we have lost colleagues and many people to road carnage." 
Hon. Kadaga recognized the technical and financial support on road safety received from partners including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank.

The WHO Representative in Uganda, Dr Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam pointed out that “road safety is not just a transport problem but an economic, health and social development problem that requires the effective broad partnership of key actors to successfully prevent and control the impact of road accidents."  He thus called for legislative action by parliament and enforcement of laws and regulation by transport and regulatory authorities, the police and the judiciary to save lives of people and also prevent economic and social costs. 

Worldwide, 1.25 million people are killed and up to 50 million injured as a result of accidents on roads every year. The low and middle-income countries bear the heaviest burden of all road traffic accidents in the world, they account for 85% of the burden. From 2011 to 2016, motorcycle fatalities increased by 51% in Uganda. Pedestrians are the most vulnerable constituting 40% of Road Traffic Accident related deaths recorded in 2016. According to the Uganda Road Safety Review Report, Road Traffic Accident (RTA) deaths stand at 28.9 per 100,000 populations placing it among the top-ranking countries. Furthermore, traffic injuries are among the top ten causes of mortality in the country. On average Uganda loses 10 people per day in road traffic accidents, which is the highest level in East Africa. Road accident fatalities rose by 25.9%, from 2,597 to 3,503 in 2016 in Uganda according to Police Data. 

The Legislative Action Plan is a collaborative effort comprising of different stakeholders including Uganda's Parliament, Ministry of Works and Transport, Uganda Police Force, Uganda National Roads Authority, Kampala City Council Authority, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Finance, WHO, World Bank the academia, media and other stakeholders.