Last Wednesday, Ugandans woke up to devastating news. Multiple vehicles on the Kampala-Gulu highway, including two buses, collided, killing 46 people on spot.
Initial reports put the toll at 63, sparking global media attention. Police later issued a statement revising the toll to 46, but the difference could not have made the news less tragic.
Tragic road accidents have occurred since time immemorial, and figures from the World Health Organisation suggest approximately 1.19 million people die each year as a result of road traffic crashes.
Ninety-two percent of the world’s fatalities on the roads occur in low- and middle-income countries, even though these countries have around 60% of the world’s vehicles.
Many religious people strongly believe their creator is always in control and can stop many terrible things happening, including tragic road accidents.
However, when you take a calm, dispassionate look at how road accidents happen, you see there is no way a divine hand can stop accidents.
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Most accidents result from human error: misjudged overtaking, speeding, fatigue, mechanical failure. These are outcomes of physics, not faith.
It is hard to see how a divine hand can eliminate cause and effect. If, for example, an old front tyre bursts when the driver is doing 140 miles/hr, chances are that the driver will want to slam on the brakes and the vehicle will likely roll.
There is no evidence to suggest that a divine hand can prevent panic and enable the driver to steer straight without jamming on the brake.
All evidence suggests that accidents can be prevented or reduced if roads are built well, speed limits are adhered to, drivers follow traffic rules/regulations and are properly trained, vehicles are in good mechanical condition and the traffic police enforce traffic laws without compromise.
The principal reason road accidents in developed countries do not kill as many people as in low-income, developing countries is not because the divine hand there works. It is because governments in those countries have taken effective measures to prevent and reduce road accidents.
Those measures are the only tried and tested ways of stopping road accidents. If you board a bus with worn-out tyres and a drunk driver, your fate lies not in divine hands but in human negligence. There are no two ways about it—and for people who care about evidence and facts, this obviously makes sense.
🔴 Sunday Thought cuts through the noise of prayer, piety and superstition to ask the questions most people avoid. It discusses God, faith and religion—not to preach, but to probe, challenge and sometimes unsettle. Whether you believe, doubt or have stopped looking altogether, Sunday Thought will make you think, question and maybe even rethink everything you thought you knew about the divine—and about life itself.