Kyegegwa, (UG): Police have confirmed that the driver of Link Bus Services who was filmed texting while driving has been suspended from duty and arrested to answer charges of reckless driving.
The driver identified as Andrew Jjemba, 43, was filmed by one of the passengers in the bus registration number UBG 188P along the Kampala-Fort Portal- highway before releasing the video which went viral on social media.
JJemba’s employers; Link Bus Services on Wednesday acknowledged receipt of the viral video and immediately suspended the driver before police later issued a statement confirming his arrest.
“We learnt of the viral video this morning of Wednesday from social media and our human resource office immediately swung into action to investigate the matter. Following preliminary investigations, Andrew has been suspended from duty with immediate effect,” Mr Tom Best Aliinde, the PRO Link Bus Services said on Wednesday.
According to Mr Aliinde, Jjemba’s action was not only reckless and dangerous, but also downplays the safety standards of the company’s brand and taints their name.
“We condemn in the strongest terms possible the individual action by the particular driver, who had just, in a space of less than two months, gone through our annual refresher training,” he explained.
Police traffic spokesperson, SP Michael Kananura in a statement confirming Jjemba’s arrest said the driver was intercepted and arrested at Kyegegwa Police Station at around 11 am on Wednesday and has since been charged under “Regulation 3(a) and 4 of Traffic and Road Safety (Restriction of Use of Mobile Telephone) Regulations, 2004.”
SP Kananura commended the public for their vigilance on road safety and called upon everyone to continue reporting and sharing any information on traffic violations on roads on the force’s toll-free line; 0800199099.
“We continue to sound a warning to all motorists who use mobile phones while driving as this has been seen as one of the causes of road crashes in the country,” he added.
According to recent police findings, using mobile phones while driving remains to be one of the major causes of road crashes in the country with last year’s report alone showing an increase of 35 per cent of the vice among common traffic offences.
The report showed that police registered 456,993 cases in 2022 compared to 336,722 cases in 2021 and as a result, the number of road traffic crashes increased from 17,443 in 2021 to 20,394 in 2022 where 3,901 crashes were fatal, 10,776 were serious while 5,717 were minor by nature.
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