Gen Katumba Wamala said that although the driver of the bus Paul Ssempagala had over 20 years’ experience as a bus driver with no recorded crash history or reckless driving, he was captured by police CCTV moving at a speed of 99km per hour above the prescribed speed limit of 80 kilometers per hour.
A probe
report into the Link Bus accident that killed 22 people has ruled that the
cause of the accident was human error. The accident
occurred at Sebitoli along the Fort Portal -Kampala Highway in Busoro Sub
County.
Following
the crash, a joint team comprising Ministry of Works officials, Police, and
the Uganda National Roads Authority-UNRA was established to find out the cause
of the accident. According to the findings, the cause of the
accident was overspeeding.
“According
to the on-scene investigations, absence of skid marks was an indication that
there were no attempts by the driver to brake implying over-speeding at the
time of the accident…the magnitude of the impact as seen from the wreckage
points to the fact that the bus was moving at a high speed,” the report reads
in part.
Addressing
journalists at the Media Centre on Friday, the Minister of Works Gen Katumba
Wamala, said that although the driver of the bus Paul Ssempagala had over 20 years’
experience as a bus driver with no recorded crash history or reckless driving,
he was captured by police CCTV moving at a speed of 99km per hour above the prescribed
speed limit of 80 kilometres per hour.
The driver was
also captured driving with one arm while the other holding an object suspected to
be a phone.
Wamala also lifted
the suspension on the operations of Link Bus Company. Wamala said the decision
to lift the suspension follows an investigation into the accident and adequate
measures that have been taken by the bus company to improve safety.
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Katumba also said that only buses and drivers that have been verified by
the ministry will be allowed back onto the road.
WinstonKatushabe,
CommissionerofTransport
Regulation and Safety, says that a monitoring tool will be used in other buses
on all routes sharing information and live feeds to traffic police command
centres and to the Ministry of Works.
Katushabe,
says that police will also start carrying out inspections of buses when they are
still in terminals to ensure that they meet the standards.
