Beware, here are the black spots of our highways

By Maore Ithula

There are more than 20 notorious spots on the main highways where road accidents are most likely to occur.

Prompted by a United Nations initiative to reduce road carnage globally, the Government has come up with an initiative that helps Kenyans keep safe on the roads.

According to the Ministry of Transport’s road assessment data, there are 28 mapped black spots.

A report and a map of the black spots will be launched soon, but details made available to The Standard indicate the danger spots are spread out on the highways in the Rift Valley, Central, Nairobi, Nyanza and Western provinces.

Death traps

Rift Valley Province leads with six of the death traps, says Mr Philip Langat, the ministry’s deputy secretary. The administrator says the province takes this unenviable position because of its vastness, which also goes with a wide road outlay.

The black spots have been isolated after assessments showed that out of the country’s total accidents a year, they account for more than 60 per cent.

Some of the spots that will feature in the report are on the Nairobi-Eldoret highway, Mombasa Road, Thika Road, the Kericho-Kisumu stretch and Embu-Meru Road.

Specifically to be mentioned will be spots like Salgaa between Nakuru and Eldoret, Kinungi between Limuru and Naivasha and Mombasa Road between Salama and Voi.

The information and map will be made widely available in the media to warn motorists of where dangers mostly await on the highways.

High frequency

The report will also include warnings on the most likely causes of accidents.

A black spot is a place considered dangerous for motoring because several accidents have happened there.

However, experts on road safety say black spots are not permanent, neither are the accidents caused by similar factors.

Mr David Njoroge, Automobile Association of Kenya’s director general says: "In order to understand why black spots are not permanent, we must first define what causes a road accident."

Road accidents can be caused by errors related to humans, bad weather, road design and/or condition of a vehicle(s). It could be one or any combination of these factors that triggers a road mishap, says Njoroge.

Human error

For factors related to human errors, intoxication ranks high, he says. Many accidents are caused when drivers are under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

The director says bad weather causes poor visibility and/or bad traction on the road surface, which can lead to collision of vehicles against others or against objects on the roadside. Bad weather (fog) is the main cause of accidents the Kinungi on the Nakuru-Naivasha Road.

Njoroge, who is also Africa representative in the Commission for Global Safety, says driver errors are probably the largest cause of road accidents, especially in the developing world.

"The mistakes range from following other vehicles too closely, falling asleep behind the wheel, dangerous speeding and unsafe overtaking, distractions like operating a music system, and answering or making phone calls, among others," he says.

In other cases, says Njoroge, some accidents occur when drivers get distracted by another accident(s).

Many black spots are products of bad road designs, Langat and Njoroge agree.

They say a bad road design could be anything from poorly placed signs blocking drivers’ view of incoming traffic at intersections to dangerous turnings on busy roads and badly located/designed bridges.

High risk

Vehicular defects usually include brake failure and tyre bursts, says Njoroge.

He says after it came to the attention of the international community that most traffic accidents in the developing world are caused by poor road designs, some measures were mooted.

This is being done through International Road Assessment Programme (Irap). The organisation assesses roads all over the world to significantly reduce casualties by improving safety of road infrastructure.

Njoroge says Irap is an NGO that works in partnership with governments and other NGOs to inspect and rate high-risk roads and develop safer roads investment plans.

Due to their careers and positions, Langat and Njoroge are part of the Irap team preparing a report on Kenya’s state of road safety. They say the report is ready and will be presented to the Government for scrutiny and adoption on November 29.

In the meantime, local road safety stakeholders are preparing to attend the first UN-sponsored Global Road Safety Conference in Moscow on November 19, says Njoroge.

He says a critical resolution that will be pushed for adoption is for governments in the developing world to reduce carnage by half by next year.