Danger stalks young, male pedestrians out on the weekend

GRAPHIC | LISA WAMUGUNDA

What you need to know:

  • In 2013, WHO estimated that the total number of people killed on Kenya’s roads was a whopping 12,891, which translated to 29 deaths per 100,000 people.
  • From January 1 to October 18 2015, more people died in traffic road accidents on Saturday and Sunday than on any other day of the week.
  • The more the roads are empty the more likely motorists are likely to speed. Pedestrians develop a false sense of security and are likely to let down their guard while crossing the road.

Male pedestrians aged between 30 and 34 who live in Nairobi and frequently use certain high-risk roads between 6pm and 9pm, especially over the weekend, are most vulnerable to dying or being seriously injured in a road crash.

An investigation by Nation Newsplex reveals thatmen are three times more likely than women to die in a road crash, and December is by far the most dangerous month.

During the decade from 205 to 2014, police recorded more than 200,000 road crash casualties. More than 30,991 people lost their lives, 82,321 were seriously injured and 86,688 slightly injured.

Men are more likely to be involved in road traffic collisions because they take more risks than women, says Dr Duncan Kibogong, Deputy Director, Safety Strategies and County Committees of the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA).

“Men also constitute the larger part of the workforce who travel far from home every day.”

“They are more likely to drink-drive, drink-walk, and speed and use their mobiles while driving. They use footbridges less and engage in more daredevil activities such as running across a highway, hopping in between vehicles and hanging on to moving vehicles,” he says.

They are also more men aged 30 to 34 working in the transport sector, which exposes them more to vehicles and increases their risk of being involved in a road crash. Adults in this productive age group are six more likely to die in a road crash than a child aged between 10 and 14.

Most motorcyclists who carry passengers without training and wearing helmets are men. “Men also constitute the larger part of the workforce who travel far from home every day,” he says.

In the first 10 months of 2015, one in eight people who died in a road collision was aged between30 and 34, with the 25 - 29 age group being the second most vulnerable.

Passengers are the second most at’-risk class of road users after drivers.

WEEKEND DANGER

As the weekend draws near, fatal road crashes increase sharply. From January 1 to October 18 2015, more people died in traffic road accidents on Saturday and Sunday than on any other day of the week.

One is almost twice as likely to die in a road accident onSaturday and Sunday as on Monday or Tuesday.  Of 2,381 deaths that happened during the period,474 (20 per cent) took place on Saturday, 429 (18 per cent) on Sunday, 369 (15 per cent) on Friday and 293 (12 per cent) on Thursday.

On Wednesday there were 289 deaths (12 per cent) and Tuesday 269 (11 per cent) and Monday (258 per cent).

Deaths and injuries rise sharply between Friday and Sunday because more people drive while drunk and walk while drunk. Once drunk, they also more likely to speed, or walk onto the road without looking out for oncoming traffic. But why should deaths on Sunday when traffic is so low be almost equal to Saturday?

“The more the roads are empty the more likely motorists are likely to speed. At the same time pedestrians develop a false sense of security and are likely to let down their guard while crossing the road,” says Kibogong.  Many people also travel out of town on the highways.

DEADLY HOLIDAY

Two months, December and August are the deadliest months.A month-by-month review of traffic crash deaths from 2011-2014 reveals that December featured on the top four of the months with highest road deaths every year, topping the list in 2011 and 2014, while August featured in three of the four years.

GRAPHIC | LISA WAMUGUNDA

Experts attribute the high number of deaths in December partly to an increase in long distance travel during the holiday season. “During this time drivers travel a lot to unfamiliar places, such as upcountry. Their lack of knowledge of the roads puts them at a greater risk of collisions, says Dr Kibogong.

“There is also a lot of travelling and merrymaking by the middle and upper class who take time from work to merry-make. They drink and drive a lot during this period, while the poor drink and walk.”

Dr Kibogong explains that more vehicles on the road does not necessarily translate to more casualties. For example, vehicles stuck on the highway bumper to bumper are unlikely to crash and when they do, the result is less likely to be death or serious injury.

A Newsplex examination of NTSA traffic death data for  the period from January to December 2015 shows that deaths increased by four per cent compared to the same period last year, from 2,645 to 2,762.  During the same period drivers who died increased by a third, the biggest jump among classes of road users.

About 8,047 people died or were seriously injured in road collisions in 2014, a 10 per cent drop from the previous year after mostly increasing steadily since 2005.

FIVE PER CENT OF GDP

The peak year for road fatalities and serious injuries was 2009, when 4,072 people died in traffic road accidents. The same year, 10,644 suffered from serious injuries a jump of 16 per cent from 2008.

During the 10 years to 2014, recorded roadtraffic deaths increased by 15 per cent  from 2,531 to 2907, even as serious injuries declined by 35 per cent from 7,899 to 5,140. It is not clear whether this means fewer people are surviving serious injuries than was previously the case.

One in 50 of all deaths in Kenya is caused by road traffic crashes. Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows that road accidents deaths climbed from being the ninth cause of death in 2010 to seventh in 2014, overtaking meningitis.

A person living in Kenya is 14 times more likely to die from a road accident than a person living in Micronesia and nine times more likely to die than a person living in Sweden.

While deaths from four of the top ten killers decreased over this time, road traffic deaths increased by 21 per cent from 3,892 in 2010 to 4710 in 2014, outpacing all other top ten causes of death.

While the price paid by victims and their families is immeasurable, the annual cost to the economy can be measured. In 2014, road accidents cost the country about Sh310 billion or five per cent of Gross Domestic Product, which was Sh6.1 trillion or US$ 60.94 billion last year, according to the World Bank.

The amount is expected to rise over time, says Dr Kibogong.

“This is a huge amount of [loss] which drains the economy and needs to be managed sustainably,” says Dr Kibogong.

SWEDEN AND MICRONESIA

According to the NTSA data, road crash deaths per 100,000 people dropped to 6.7 per 100,000 people in 2014 from 7.8 per 100,000 people in 2013. But road safety experts say the police and NTSA figures do not reflect the full scale of death and injury on the roads as many incidents go unreported.

In 2013, WHO estimated that the total number of people killed on Kenya’s roads was a whopping 12,891, which translated to29 deaths per 100,000 people.

This earned Kenya 17th spot on the top 20 list of worst road traffic deaths. Thailand with 36 deaths per 100,000 people had the worst road death rate in the world.

In the four years to 2013, Kenya’s road crash death rate increased by 39 per cent from 20.9 deaths per 100,000 people to 29 deaths per 100,000 people. During the same period Palau, Tanzania and Kiribati reduced their death rate by more than 50 per cent.

The five countries with the lowest traffic death rates per 100,000 people are Micronesia with 1.9, Sweden with 2.8, Kiribati 2.9, United Kingdom with 2.9 and San Marino with 3.2, according to WHO’s Global Status Report on Road Safety 2015.  

Therefore, a person living in Kenya is 14 times more likely to die from a road accident than a person living in Micronesia and nine times more likely to die than a person living in Sweden.

Sweden and Micronesia have the best road safety record in the world despite the fact that Sweden has 12 times as many vehicles per 1,000 people (601) as Kenya (45) while Micronesia has almost twice as many vehicles per 1,000 people as Kenya (80).

READ MORE

Nairobi contributes about one in four of all road crash deaths in Kenya.  Nearly half of them  take place on nine high risk roads – Mombasa, Thika, Kagundo, Eastern Bypass, Southern Bypass road, Northern Bypass road, North Airport, Waiyaki and Jogoo roads.Read more about the high risk roads tomorrow.

Deaths of motorcyclists and pillion passengers and  their share of total road crash deaths have  has been increasing in the last 10 years at a much faster rate than those of other class of road users.Read about the poorly trained motorcyclists who risk death to earn a living.

Three out of 10 road traffic deaths are caused by a private car, while Public Service Vehicles (PSV) cause two in 10 deaths. Commercial vehicles contribute one-quarter of all deaths, while cause motor-cycles one sixteenth.