Road accidents claim 19 lives between Dec 24th and 26th

What you need to know:

  • “Last year, within the two days of Christmas, there were 54 deaths” Mr Munyao said adding that the accident that happened in Migori where 5 family members died was reclassified.
  • Over the past one year, according to the authority, close to 3,000 people died on Kenyan roads as a results of accidents.
  • Another 8,670 sustained injuries, in the statistics that exclude those recorded after December 18. Most of the fatalities and casualties were pedestrians.

A total of 19 people died over the Christmas holiday countrywide, statistics from the National Transport and Safety Authority indicate.

Several others sustained serious and minor injuries between December 24 and December 26, NTSA director of road safety Matthew Munyao said.

Mr Munyao however said the number of deaths reduced as compared to those that happened in the same period last year.

“Last year, within the two days of Christmas, there were 54 deaths” Mr Munyao said adding that the accident that happened in Migori where 5 family members died was reclassified.

“In line with the UN definitions, this incident which occurred in a private land 300m from a public road cannot be referred as a Road Traffic Injury” Mr Muyao said.

NTSA estimates that over the past one week, a total of 2,000 people have been arrested and booked for committing traffic offences in the country.

PAST ONE YEAR

Over the past one year, according to the authority, close to 3,000 people died on Kenyan roads as a results of accidents.

Another 8,670 sustained injuries, in the statistics that exclude those recorded after December 18. Most of the fatalities and casualties were pedestrians.

Over the past one month, NTSA has been conducting intense road safety campaigns that included advertisements on the media and other strategies.

A team was earlier in the month set up to monitor night travel by Public Service Vehicles this December.

Officers were been sent to 20 locations on major roads and towns to ensure vehicles issued with night travel licences do not flout them.

Rules to regulate night travel were introduced following a deadly road crash in Ntulele, Narok on August 29 last year that killed 40 people and provoked public outcry.