Pedestrians, PSVs major causes of increased fatal road accidents, report says
Francis Meja, the director-general of the National Transport and Safety Authority, speaks at a forum on road safety at Kenyatta International Convention Centre in Nairobi on August 11, 2016. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
Since January, 1,574 people have died on the roads, compared to 1,488 who died over the same period last year
Speeding, fatigue, drink-driving and careless driving and road crossing led to increase in deaths, according to NTSA director-general.
Pedestrians and public service vehicles were major causes of increased fatal road accidents in the first half of 2016, a road safety report has shown.
National Transport and Safety Authority Director-General Francis Meja said on Thursday that speeding, fatigue, drink-driving, as well as careless driving and crossing the road along major highways, led to a 5.8 per cent increase in tragic road accidents compared to the same period last year.
He was speaking at a road safety forum at Kenyatta International Convention Centre.
Since January, 1,574 people were killed on the roads compared to 1,488 who died over the same period last year with PSVs contributing 47.7 per cent and pedestrians 40 per cent.
Most of the accidents occur on weekends with Saturday being the high-risk day.
Weekends and evenings are the peak periods, with most accidents occurring on Saturdays and around 8pm.
“It is imperative to note that most of the accidents are recorded in areas with a high population, which makes it a high-risk area,” said Mr Meja.
“The number of vehicles and the road networks in an area also contribute significantly to most accidents.”
Sunday had 267 fatalities and Friday 253, representing 17 and 16 per cent, respectively, while February had the highest fatalities at 301 cases.
There were 614 pedestrians and 388 motorcyclists killed on the road, the former having significantly dropped from 656 in 2015 as the latter rose from 315.
Nairobi County had the highest number of tragic accidents in the country, with 256 cases reported since January, 16 per cent of the total. However, this is a 23 per cent drop from the previous year.
Thika Road leads with the highest number of accidents with 30 fatalities, making it the most dangerous road in the city. It is followed by Mombasa Road, Waiyaki Way, the Eastern Bypass and Kangundo and Jogoo roads.
Nairobi was followed by Nakuru, Kiambu and Makueni while Wajir was the safest road usage county, with no fatal accident.
Most of the counties in the top 10 are in the Northern Transport Corridor, where 18 per cent of the deaths occurred. The corridor is synonymous with long-distance heavy commercial vehicles, which contributed to 27 per cent of the crashes.
“Fatigue is mostly to blame for accidents,” he said.
