The increased road accidents are a threat to our economy

The recent growing cases of road accidents are heartbreaking. It is a clear sign on how the country is terribly failing on reducing the rate of loss of lives via road. Why are so many Kenyans dying and getting injured on our roads? Are the culprits behind road accidents being held accountable? These are the kind of questions Kenyans should be asking themselves.

In one of the accidents in the Sobea area Nakuru County,a family of seven perished when a saloon car was involved in a head on collision with a lorry along the Nakuru-Eldoret highway.In another accident along Mai Mahiu-Narok road,a 14 seat matatu rammed into the rear of a stationary lorry and burst into flames. Nine passengers were burnt to death.

These accidents are avoidable. According to witnesses reckless driving, speeding and overloading contribute significantly to the high rate of accidents on our roads. Statistics by the National Transport and Safety Authority indicates that in these road accidents we are quickly losing productive people who are between the ages of 15-44.

These are people who are currently building the economy of today and others who will build Kenya's economy in the future. These age groups are people who love the power of speed and are most likely to over speed. They are also the highest users of mobile phones and they use them even when crossing roads. This is due to the power of technology which has caught up with the youth. This leads to their early deaths as some of the youths involved in these road accidents are usually on the influence of alcohol.

Defective vehicles are also often responsible for road accidents. Most of the vehicles I see plying different routes in the country are road-unworthy. The government needs to focus on quality assurance and not just quality control of all vehicles that ply our roads. The fact that we have these road-unworthy vehicles on our roads is evidence that corruption is also a factor.

 The public will take road safety campaigns less seriously if, for instance, little is done to deal with traffic police officers who take bribes to look the other way and allow those violating traffic rules to go scot-free. Most of all, the government should know that losing innocent productive lives slows down any hopes left of Vision 2030.

For us to have a flourishing economy and a growing one, road safety is of utter importance. We can only do little by taking and thus we should take more action. This is the role of citizens as well as the traffic police. The citizens should do their very best to obey traffic rules and report when an incident occurs. The police should get rid of the influence of bribes and ensure justice prevails. Just as security begins with you so does road safety.