Road Safety Campaigns Heighten Ahead of Festive Season

By Harris Kivisu

Email, thecoastnewspaper@gmail.com

The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) in collaboration with transport sector key players have intensified road safety campaigns to zero rate ro ad carnages in the country.

Coast NTSA deputy regional manager John Parteroi noted that as festive season approached there was likely of increased road incidents.

The campaign targets drivers, pedestrians, motor cyclists and all users to ensure safer roads.

By October this year, Mombasa County alone recorded 28 road fatalities to reflect nationwide 4,047 casualties with majority of the cases resulting from drunk driving, poor roads, reckless driving among other related factors.

By these figures, NTSA has now embarked on comprehensive countrywide interventions among them Usalama Barabarani Campaign which entails road safety sensitizations as well as compliance checks in collaboration with the National Police Service (NPS).

“There will be a lot of travelling during the festive season and therefore we are intensifying road safety campaigns to ensure safer roads during that period.

By October this year, in Mombasa we lost about 28 people and 4,047 lives. Last year we lost 4,300 and we see the number is getting higher, and we are concerned about bringing the cases down,” he said.

The deputy made his remarks in Mombasa on November 18, 2024 during the commemoration of World Day of remembrance for road crash victims’ event where players participated in a procession from Nyali Cinemax towards Links road, before it culminated with paint of a pedestrian zebra crossing at Nyali School.

The day focuses on both the overall scale and the individual devastation caused by road deaths and injuries and the impact upon families and communities around the world.

Key players who took part include NPS, Bloomberg Initiative, philanthropies for global road safety (BIGRS), Mombasa Press Club and representatives of Kenya Driving Schools Association and long distance truck drivers among others.

BIGRS communication officer Kevin Ismael said the agency would continue to build capacity to key players through partnerships and media campaigns to ensure they create awareness on road safety especially ensuring that all road policies were adhered to.

“As an initiative we are working closely with the Mombasa county government and NTSA to improve systems to ensure we build capacity to ensure we reduce fatalities on our roads,” he said flanked by Mombasa county transport chief executive Daniel Manyala.

Manyala said Mombasa County has improved its infrastructure including pedestrian walkways and ensured marking of roads, pedestrian crossing and has well enacted the Mombasa county road safety policy which would guide on implementation plan.

“We have intensified enforcement in collaboration with traffic police to penalize drivers and any other road users violating road safety rules. The county has installed cameras to help in tracing violators of the rules,” Manyala said.

As the festive season approaches, Ismael said the initiative would embark on a mass media campaign targeting to sensitize all road users about road safety usage and ensuring road safety.

To ensure adherence to road safety policies, NTSA is strengthening road safety regulations among them the ongoing development and review of various regulations; NTSA’s Operation of Public Service Vehicles Regulations 2014, NTSA’s operation of motorcycles regulations 2015, and the Traffic Act (registration plates) 2016.

Other interventions include automating the motor vehicle inspection process to enhance efficiency, increasing road safety audits that inform safe road designs and construction.

The authority is also operationalizing county transport and safety committees (CTSC) to improve road safety at the county levels as well as the integration of road safety into Kenya’s school curriculum-NTSA in collaboration with the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD).

The sub-sector contributes significantly to employment creation, income generation and improved internal and external trade.

Annually road deaths globally are about 1.3 million. In Kenya, we lose over 3,000 lives annually. Majority being vulnerable road users including pedestrians, motorcyclists among others.

The economic loss due to road traffic incidents in Kenya is estimated at about five percent of the GDP every year amounting to an annual loss of approximately Ksh310 billion (US $3.1 billion).