The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) on Sunday revealed nine habits that highly contribute to road accidents leading to thousands of lost lives annually.
In a report by the NTSA Board chair Manoj Shah dated November 17, the authority ranked drunk-walking as one of the top behavioural habits that cause road accidents which ultimately loses Kenyans an average of Ksh310 billion in economic loss.
“The economic loss due to road traffic crashes in Kenya is estimated at about 5% of the GDP every year amounting to an annual loss of US$ 3.1 Billion or approximately KES 310 Billion,” part of the statement read.
Drunk driving, drunk riding, speeding, reckless driving, lane indiscipline, lack of wearing a seatbelt, driver fatigue and failing to follow road signs were the other habits listed as the top accident causes.
A collage of the bus and trailer that was involved in an accident along the Nairobi Mombasa Highway on Sunday, November 11.
The report was released in commemoration of the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims which is observed annually on the third Sunday of November.
In a country where 90 percent of its transport needs, both cargo and passenger, are met via road transport, approximately 3,000 people succumb to road accidents every year which is just a fraction of the 1.3 million globally.
The report also highlighted several measures that the NTSA had undertaken to minimise road accidents including conducting countrywide sensitisation through the Usalama Barabarani Campaign and compliance checks in collaboration with the National Police Service (NPS).
NTSA is also in the process of strengthening regulations as well as reviewing some of them, with the public being encouraged to contribute to the exercise by submitting a memoranda before November 30.
Automating the motor vehicle inspection process, increasing road safety audits, and operationalising County Transport and Safety Committees (CTSC) to improve road safety at the county level have also been implemented.
Road safety education is also in the process of being integrated into Kenya’s curriculum in collaboration with the Curriculum Development (KICD).
This year’s event included officials from NTSA leading the public countrywide in commemorating the loved ones who have succumbed to this fate.
In Tharaka Nithi County, political leaders including Meru senator Kathuri Murungi and Maara MP Kareke Mbiuki joined hundreds of residents in marking the day.
In addition to urging the government to invest more in road safety, they conducted a candle-lighting ceremony and planted more than 8000 seedlings.
Wreckage of the 14-seater matatu after accident along Nyeri-Nyahururu Highway, October 8.
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