Address root causes of increasing road crashes

First responders try to rescue pupils and teachers from a wreckage of a school bus at Tokyo Stage along the Kagio - Baricho road in Ndia, Kirinyaga county. [Timothy Kariuki, Standard]

According to statistics from the National Transport and Road Safety Authority (NTSA), 1,072 people died in road accidents between July 2022 and early April 2023. This number is marginally lower than the 1,159 who died in the same period the previous year.

Last week, a Pwani University bus was involved in an accident which claimed 18 lives. A week ago, eight students from Mariiira Secondary School in Murang'a sustained injuries after their school bus overturned along the Naromoru-Nanyuki road. Yesterday at Ndia, Kirinyaga County, a teacher lost his life after two school buses collided head-on.

Eye witnesses to the Naivasha accident blamed an open trench besides the road where the accident happened for several mishaps at the spot. They urged the government to cover the trench because it constricts the road, leaving drivers with no room to manoeuvre in case of an emergency. These crashes involving students point to the need to audit the quality of the school buses and their drivers.

They are also a reminder that we need to address causes of road accidents with more seriousness. In July 2022, President Uhuru Kenyatta signed the Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2021 into law, effectively charging NTSA, which among others, reintroduced breathalysers to deal with cases of drunk-driving. Yet despite it, accidents continue to occur from preventable causes.

These include poorly marked roads, missing road signs, poor road designs, wrong parking of trailers and lorries alongise roads, speeding, and defective vehicles that continue to ply our roads as a result of corruption by traffic police officers and NTSA officials. There have been numerous complaints about officers who take bribes to allow vehicles that are death traps to freely ply our roads.

Roads where accidents repeatedly occur should be redesigned for safety. The Salgaa area along the Nakuru-Eldoret road is the best proof that a redesign can significantly reduce traffic accidents. Tougher penalties should be imposed on careless drivers to curb that tendency while NTSA should take its work more seriously.