Nairobi, Kiambu lead in road deaths, NTSA report shows

A total of 2, 917 road users have lost their lives since January this year with Nairobi County leading in the number of fatalities recorded nationally.

This is almost triple the numbers for the other two cities in the country which have recorded a total of only of 142 fatalities since January. Mombasa and Kisumu counties recorded 46 and 96 fatalities respectively.

According to the latest report by the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) released on December 10, Nairobi County recorded 411 road fatalities followed by Kiambu County with 270 and Nakuru at 230.

Machakos, Kericho and Makueni are the other counties which recorded over 100 deaths having 178, 124 and 105 fatalities respectively.

But Elgeyo Marakwet, Tharaka Nithi, Isiolo, Mandera, Wajir and Marsabit counties recorded the least road fatalities with 4, 8, 9, 9, 10 and 10 respectively.

Meanwhile, privately-owned, commercial and public service vehicles are responsible for 69 percent of the deaths on Kenyan roads this year with 756, 672 and 570 deaths since the start of the year respectively.

Motorcycles, and hit-and-run vehicles follow closely with 486 and 373 deaths. Government vehicles at 37, tri cycles at 10, pedal cycles at 11 and handcart at 1 close the list.

Pedestrians continue to top the list of deaths with 1,117 having died since January compared to last year’s 999. Motorcyclists (boda boda) come in second with 775 deaths, an increase from last year’s 674.

Passengers come in third with 682 deaths, also an increase from last year's 650 while pedal cyclists prop the list with 58 deaths an increase of 4 deaths compared to a similar period last year.

But the number of drivers who died on the road has reduced to 285 compared to 290 in 2017.

'DEADLIEST MONTHS'

Further, the report has showed that October, August and April were the leading months in terms of fatalities with 289, 278 and 269 deaths respectively since January.

The three months are closely followed by September, February and July   with 266, 257 and 248 respectively.

According to the report, October is the deadliest month with the highest number of deaths at 289. Last year's darkest month in terms of road accidents was March with 269.

Interestingly, November recorded 246 deaths, an increase of 6 from 2017, despite the famous ‘Michuki rules’ being re-introduced in the public transport sector.

Of the total fatalities, males lead the list accounting for 2, 330 deaths compared to only 592 females.

But the number of male deaths decreased this year from 2, 342 during a similar period last year while that for females increased by 15l.