Kenyans Urged to Observe Traffic Rules This Festive Season

By Herman Ngatia

At least 4,104 people have died in road accidents this year, according to the latest statistics from National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA).

This is an increase from the 3,947 who perished in accidents last year, representing a four per cent increase.

Those who died were 1,486 pedestrians, drivers (378), passengers (721), pillion passengers (377), pedal cyclists (56) and 1,085 motorcyclists.

Speaking during a fact finding mission on various across the capital, Director-General Vision 2030 Kennethi Mwige who was flanked by officials from NTSA said majority these accidents are as a result of bad behaviour from most road users.

These behaviours range from not using footbridges, using the wrong side of the road and failure to use the indicators.

“The problem we have is not infrastructure. As a matter of fact we have the best infrastructure, our people are to blame. People just roads just for the sake of it. Very few if any you will even stopping for pedestrians to cross the road at the Zebra crossing line”, he said.

For instance, Mwige said the biggest problem at the Nairobi Expressway was failure by drivers to identify which road to use while speeding.

To address this, Mwige said all those who will be caught will be arrested and be forced to take refresher driving courses at the National Transport and Safety Authority NTSA.

“There is no way that in almost every festive season we will be doing raids. We want to tame this by ensuring everyone using our roads understands everything. We cannot afford to loose innocent Kenyans anymore. When one Kenyan dies, you affect close to 7 families. This will affect us economically,” he said.

Among the interventions being undertaken to reduce road carnage include the formulation of a National Road Safety Action Plan aimed at enhancing coordination, management and implementation of road safety priority plans.

Mwige said NTSA, in collaboration with the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD), is also developing a road safety curriculum for school children.