A busy street in central Kampala. Since boda bodas (or motorcycle taxis) are much cheaper than owning a car or taking a taxi and can weave through traffic they are a popular way of getting around the capital.

SafeBoda is trying to reduce the dangers of boda bodas. In 2010, an investigation by Kampala’s Mulago hospital found that 40% of its trauma cases involved a motorcycle taxi. Around 7,600 people are killed in road accidents in Uganda every year, according to the World Health Organization.

SafeBoda drivers being trained to use the company’s new app, which was released in February. The company, based in Kampala, equips its 1,000 or so drivers with helmets and teaches them first aid.

A SafeBoda mechanic installs a USB charger on a motorcycle for a driver to charge his smartphone.

A SafeBoda driver and customer on a ride in Kampala. The drivers are trained to handle dangerous roads, and so far SafeBoda has had no fatalities.

A SafeBoda driver collects a customer. According to the company’s own statistics, only 30-40% of passengers wear the helmets provided. ‘Compared to our target of 100% of customers using helmets, we’re not doing great,’ says SafeBoda co-founder Maxime Dieudonné.

A SafeBoda employee installs the app – which was built entirely in Uganda – on drivers’ smartphones. Last year, the company raised over $1m (£0.82m) from Shell Foundation, Global Innovation Fund, Development Innovation Ventures and a private tech company.

Musa Sembatya, one of SafeBoda’s driver, waits for customers in downtown Kampala. Around 150 of the 15,000 rides the company provides daily are booked through the app, with the rest picked up on the street. The company’s ‘biggest challenge’ is persuading customers to hail a boda with their phone, says Dieudonné.