Road Safety Awareness
By Joseph Kamau Kiragu
Road accidents in Kenya have been rising at an alarming rate. These accidents have become a major threat to peopleβs lives since they have been causing multiple deaths and leaving the survivors with serious injuries. Most of them occur due to violation of traffic rules, poor driving skills, lack of awareness and failure to adhere to the road safety precautions.
The combination of all these has been making road accidents statistics in our country keep on staggering. According to the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA), there has been an exponential rise of Kenyans who have perished on our roads within the last two months, which is a high number compared to the previous year within the same period. The increase is worrying; hence, a sense of urgency should be put in place to minimize the menace.
Fortunately, the government embarked on a road safety campaign whereby it rolled out a safety program to counter the rise of road accidents. This safety program is also aimed to address some of the challenges that are leading to an increase in road accidents and a decrease in the number of fatalities. Indeed, this is an excellent move towards reducing risky behaviors on our roads. Such programs are essential to diffuse awareness among people about the rules and safety measures.
However, it is vital that the government not limit these campaigns to specific people or only certain areas. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the government to extend these campaigns to all parts of the country. To make it easier, the government should include key stakeholders in developing road safety campaigns.
Some of the stakeholders can be public health providers, local government, community groups, police agencies and local media. Working with such key stakeholders can help the government to reach many communities across the country and increase their awareness and knowledge regarding specific road safety and the need for helmets and seatbelts, having lane discipline, reducing speeding, drunk driving and other risky behaviors.
It is worth noting that vehicles on our roads are increasing, a sign that people killed and injured in traffic can continue rising; hence, the government should work with other organizations and stakeholders to come up with more campaigns that will increase awareness to improve road usersβ behavior.
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