Kenyan Road Safety Outline
Kenya has terrible accidents between 3000 and 13 000 Kenyans lose their lives in road traffic crashes every year. The majority of these people are vulnerable road users – pedestrians, motorcyclists, and cyclists. In addition, nearly one-third of deaths are among passengers – many of whom are killed in unsafe forms of public transportation. According to the recently published WHO Global Status Report on Road Safety, there are no laws for helmet wearing, Blood Alcohol Concentration levels for drivers or child restraints in Kenya and where road safety laws do exist they are poorly enforced. The cacophony of horns and abuses hurled, speeding and overtaking vehicles, drivers ignoring traffic signals, pedestrians running amuck midst traffic or jumping off moving buses, is a brief description of the chaos and bustle of street life. In the last two or three decades, with the alteration of banking facilities and availability of finances, the middle-class Kenyans have been able to afford vehicles – two or four wheelers, thereby increasing the density of road traffic tremendously. This unprecedented growth of density of motor vehicles has taken the government by surprise, and no amount of planning has been able to resolve the traffic crisis. Apart from pathetic road conditions and improper roads, rules are often not adhered to by motorists and pedestrians alike on such a vast scale that it is now taken for granted as the said way of life! The practice continues till the time fatality strikes within their own coterie. Awareness and watchfulness on the part of drivers and pedestrians like facilities, regulations and strict enforcement on the part of authorities and provision of better roads is the solution to this public menace.
