Creating a bigger road safety platform in Uganda

LRSI Team at the 5th UN Global Road Safety Campaign 2019

Along my career path, I’ve been given the opportunity to work with Legacy Logistics Associates, a consultancy firm as a Training and Capacity Building Manager.

During my tenure, I was able to participate in over 500 training sessions led by both government and private sector drivers from the Office of the Prime Minister, Electoral Commission, Ministry of Education, Uganda Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Health and Hospice Africa Uganda, South African Embassy, Community Development & Support Services (CDSS)-South Sudan, Wageningen UR Uganda (ISSD), and more.

The training sessions I attended were on defensive driving, Driver & Vehicle Control Skills, customer Service & Road Courtesy Skills, motor vehicle management & Care, VIP Chauffeur protocol & Driver Ethics.

Driver’s training with Ministry of Health Driver’s and Transport

These sessions went beyond driving school training. The courses not only taught young people how to drive but also equipped drivers with skills that help ensure safe driving. The sessions also address unnecessary breakdowns and road crashes, thereby promoting road safety in the long run.

As time went on, our contributions to the local transportation sector became more evident and our efforts started attracting more attention from several sectors and people. We then realized that training corporate drivers alone was not enough to make our roads safer.

We needed to cast our nets wider so that better and more impactful transformation can occur. We felt that it was necessary to involve all the players and use different approaches to create better outcomes. Because of this thought process, our NGO, Legacy Road Safety Initiative (LRSI).

LRSI was founded with the basis of three out of the five pillars that guide the Decade of Action for Road Safety; Safer Roads and Mobility, Safer Road Users, and Post-Crash Response.

To deliver the role of our NGO, we have programs like the Safe Child and Student movement, road policing capacity building and user empowerment sessions, road safety advocacy programs, rescue and psycho-social support for crash victims, and research and development opportunities.

LRSI has created a platform that champions and provides motorists and young people with opportunities to participate in several causes in making our roads safer.

As a founding member and executive secretary, now 3 years and still counting, I’m at the helm of almost every event in the organization which has not only given me an opportunity to impact my community but has also given me the chance to learn and a sense of satisfaction.

Some of the projects we’ve championed include PSV Driver training and sensitization, outreach to crash victims in Mulago Main Hospital, development of a mobile rescue application for emergency cases (in case of road crashes), road survivor livelihood skills, and drivers’ livelihood scheme. 

We also participated in projects like TWEDDEKO 2019 in partnership with VIVO Energy, Ministry of Works and Transport (MOWT), NTV, & Uganda Police Force (a road caravan campaign on road safety, Mass Casualty Simulation and Media Awareness Campaign (in partnership with Seed Global, Ministry of Health, Kampala City Council Authority, ECSU, AAPU), and more.

Submitted by Richard Young Owere, Founding Member of LRSI, Uganda