Safety agency must work with all to reduce accidents

Having dispensed off with the festivities, it is time to do some post-mortem on how we fared on the roads in order to help us plan better.

Motorists appeared to have been cautious and ensured that they were not caught in the melee that characterised travel during the 2014 festive season.

In 2015, motorists appeared to have taken extra measures to ensure that the gridlocks did not mess the festive mood. Apart from a few cases of gridlocks along Nakuru highway and Mai Mahiu road a few days before Christmas and slightly thereafter, there was nothing major as compared to 2014.

But this is not to mean that everything was smooth. The failure by the traffic police bosses to issue clear instructions to the traffic officers led to unwarranted backlash.

Instead of clearly stating that private motor vehicles should not be used as passenger service vehicles to ferry fare paying passengers, they said that they should only have relatives.

This message was not clear and due to the confusion, it was believed that passengers in private cars would be asked to produce national identity cards to prove they are all related, otherwise their journey to celebrate Christmas would come to an end.

The clarification was later done but considerable damage has already been caused.

The National Transport and Safety Authority tried to nab the errant private motorists who appeared keen to make a quick buck, or simply have the cost of fuel split by strangers.

A number of them argued that they were simply carpooling and therefore saving others from more traffic and the emissions.

But NTSA should expand its view of the mandate when it comes to road safety. The agency appears to believe that road safety can be achieved if all of us are sober behind the wheel and not speeding.

This is not necessarily the case. Anyone who covered over 150 kilometres from a major urban centre will attest that some of our major roads are in a state of disrepair.

Bearing in mind that many of us travel on these roads occasionally, it was downright dangerous to turn a corner only to find a pothole the size of a small car.

In other parts, the road signage was poor or simply non-existent and some bridges do not have rail guards. These, I believe, should also form part of road safety concerns.

I know someone at the agency will be quick to say road maintenance is not in their docket, but we cannot have potholes posing dangers to the taxpayer while the agency only focuses their energies on “private matatus” and “speedsters.”

We opened the year on a sad note when five promising Kenyans, teenagers actually, perished in an accident which could have been avoided if only someone had not sold alcohol to them.

Even as NACADA wants action to be taken against clubs that sold beer to the minors, I will be surprised if NTSA is an interested party in the matter.

NTSA must work with the other government agencies to ensure safety for all on the roads.