Ugandan traffic police mount barricades on the Kampala-Masaka Highway in an operation to arrest errant drivers, Aug. 16, 2016. Over the last three months over 50 people have been killed by road accidents on the highway. (Xinhua/Ronald Ssekandi)

by Ronald Ssekandi

MASAKA, Uganda, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Shattered windscreen, blood stains, abandoned shoes and wreaths are grisly reminders of "a killer more ferocious than AIDS" on the Kampala-Masaka highway.

Accidents on this road, linking central Uganda to the west, have claimed 50 lives over the last three months. In one of the worse accidents, over 20 people were killed as five vehicles crashed together last month.

Yet the accident may have served as a wake-up call, as police and government agencies in Uganda are now in a war against the country's notoriously high traffic accident rates with stricter law enforcement and heftier penalties.

The highway is now at the front of the "Fika Salama" operation, translated as "Reach Well" that targets reckless driving. Road barricades were mounted on the highway and vehicles found to be in poor condition would be towed away.

Drivers found not to have driving licenses or found over speeding would be prosecuted and face fines of about 200 U.S. dollars or six months in prison.

Police figures show that over 560 drivers have been taken to court over the past one month since the operation started a month ago.

"This operation is aimed at creating discipline on the highway... So far I am seeing at least a change: drivers are complying and discipline is coming back," Fabian Betuza, Assistant Superintendent of Police told Xinhua in an interview.

A Ugandan police officer stops traffic on the Kampala-Masaka Highway in an operation aimed at arrest errant drivers, Aug. 16, 2016. (Xinhua/Ronald Ssekandi)

Traffic police vigilance is also being extended to other highways in the country.

Uganda has one of the highest rate of road accidents in the world, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), with 19,870 accidents in 2012 and 18,368 in 2013.

Steven Kasiima, Traffic Police Chief told reporters on Monday that road accidents are killing more people than HIV/AIDS and malaria in the country.

Some drivers blame the accidents on narrow highways, while police records show that most accidents are due to speeding and reckless driving, driving under the influence of alcohol, and use of vehicles in poor mechanical condition.

"My humble appeal to all road users is that road safety is every person's duty, not only the police. Every person must come up, and those ones who drive badly must be reported," Betuza said.