In a bid to mitigate rampant accidents, authorities in Lira City in Northern Uganda have issued a directive banning women from occupying front seats.
The ban, according to the Monitor, came in the wake of road carnage that claimed the lives of nine people and left 19 others injured in Agali Sub-county, Lira District, on 10th January 2022.
Lira City Mobile Market Vendors Association’s Chairman Patrick Opio Obote attributed some causes of road accidents to women who he said dress indecently and demand to take the front seat, distracting the driver.
The chairman said the ban has been effected on 17 January and no woman shall be allowed to sit in front of any truck transporting traders from Lira City to any weekly market.
Dorcus Adongo, a market vendor, told the publication that she has always seen her female colleagues struggling to occupy front seats in mini dresses.
“These women always wear short dresses. Whenever they reach their destination at the weekly markets in the villages, they take the drivers away to the local bars where they offer them drinks and food,” Adongo was quoted by Monitor to have said.
Meanwhile, road accidents have also been blamed for the lack of unprofessionalism among drivers. Tom Adila, the chairperson of truck drivers in Lira City said truck owners resorted to recruiting relatives as drivers to cut costs.
“They mostly employ their relatives in a bid to minimise the costs they would spend on paying qualified drivers,” Adila quoted to have said.
Lira Urban Transporters Association Spokesperson Bernard Anyeko Matsanga reiterated that the implementation of the order was already taking shape.
“No woman is allowed to sit in front with the driver, even if you are the wife of the owner of the vehicle, we are not allowing you. Drivers are obeying all the directives and none of them is overloading or speeding. They are driving at normal speed,” Matsanga said as quoted by Monitor.