Road safety advocates call for good roads, law enforcement

Image of the wreckage of the ill-fated Nissan Matatu that collided head on with a lorry at Koguta along the Londiani- Muhoroni Road killing nine people and leaving three others with serious injuries on September 3, 2024. [Nikko Tanui, Standard]

When a road accident happens, one or two reasons for the crash dominate the headlines.

But road safety advocates say there are many ways to avoid accidents, citing international practices.

The Safe Systems Approach, according to stakeholders, includes five elements; safe road users, safe vehicles, safe speeds, safe roads and post-crash care.

The system that integrates road design and safety has successfully been implemented in the Netherlands and Sweden, they say.

It involves a holistic approach at assessing several factors behind a road crash apart from just blaming the driver.

According to Bright Oywaya, who survived an accident that sent her to a wheelchair, most accidents can be prevented if all stakeholders play their part.

“Let us not be quick at blaming the driver like we do when a road crash happens, let us look at the whole incident, including the state of the road and vehicle, and driver behaviour so that we can communicate to the communities and stakeholders well,” she said.

Oywaya is the executive director of the Association for Safe International Road Travel- Kenya and former board vice chair of the National Road Safety Action Plan 2024-2028 by the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA).

She spoke at a two-day road safety reporting training workshop organised by Science Africa and the World Health Organisation.

On footbridges, she challenged journalists and experts in road safety to look at why they were not being fully used.

“There is a need to design our roads with people in mind by including pedestrian walkways and well-marked road signs and zebra crossings with traffic calming designs and not just cars as it is now because these leave no space for pedestrians, who are the majority and vulnerable road users,” she added.

Road-user approach focuses on human error as a major cause of crashes and road users as primary culprits. It includes training, raising awareness, legislation and enforcement of drunk driving regulations. 

The safe road users also push for the use of protective gear especially by boda boda riders and their passengers.

Motorists are the second highest causalities after pedestrians and this is caused by careless driving, untrained riders and failure to purchase and wear quality helmets.

In Rwanda’s capital of Kigali, helmets are mandatory and this has reduced deaths in the country.

According to a report which studied boda boda helmet usage, just 15 per cent of pillion passengers and 63 per cent of riders in Nairobi wear helmets.

It further says that head injuries make up over a third of treated motorcycle injuries with the mean hospital stay for a motorcycle crash victim at 18 days.

Research has shown that a motorcycle helmet can reduce the risk of death by 42 per cent and the risk of head injury by 69 per cent.

Most boda boda drivers interviewed in reported wearing helmets but had a mixed understanding of helmet safety and the role of helmet standards.

“Only 14 per cent of drivers were confident that they were wearing quality helmets,” the report said.

“In urban areas like Nairobi there is a 50 to 60 per cent use but in the rural areas usage is about 20 per cent. Most riders do not use helmets when driving for short distances.”