It is disturbing that over 1000 lives have been lost on Kenyan roads only four months into 2024.
Kenyans fear that the death toll could rise steadily and the country could register a high figure by the end of the year unless efforts are put in place to change this trend.
The government has tried to enforce some areas of the Michuki rules, like the compulsory fitting of safety belts and speed governors, a ban on standing passengers on passenger service vehicles (PSVs), and talking on phone while driving but Kenyans continued to die due to road accidents.
Many people believe that the increased number of fatal accidents is largely due to human error and carelessness, although most citizens would prefer to put all the blame on the government and its perceived failure to improve roads and strictly enforce traffic laws.
According to Mr. John Kung’a, a retiree from the Kenya Bus Company, the trouble is that those Kenyans who complained loudest were often the first lawbreakers.
“There are those drivers, for example, who always think that they are in a greater hurry than others and overlap on pavements, causing accidents,” said Kung’a, a man who worked as a senior bus inspector at the company for over 30 years.
Now enjoying his senior citizen days in Uriri Constituency, Migori County, he says efforts to tame road accidents are a responsibility for all countrymen and women.
However, Mrs. Pauline Siaji, a Uriri resident, put the blame squarely on the police, whom she claimed were sabotaging the government policy to make roads safe by embracing corruption.
“It is the traffic police who are allowing unlicensed vehicles like Pro Box and Voxy types of vehicles to operate on our roads as PSVs leading to the fatal accidents,” she alleged.
“The Kenyan commuters are also to blame for allowing themselves to overload PSV automobiles on the roads, not the Transport Cabinet Secretary (CS), Mr. Kipcumba Murkomen, as many point their fingers to,” she observed.
Siaji says the population must realise that there is no way the government could be of help if it remained unruly on matters of road traffic.
“There will be hundreds and even thousands of needless fatal accidents if we continue to be indisciplined on our roads,” she warned.
According to Kenyan Traffic Police records, the primary cause of road accidents is human error at 84 percent, while mechanical factors contribute only 5 percent of accidents. Lack of enforcement of regulations contributes to about 9 percent of accidents, while climatic factors account for only 2 percent.
Among the human errors, one of the most common is talking on phone while driving. Drivers doing this usually lose concentration, causing accidents that could be avoided.
Overloading is another factor. Some commercial transporters are notorious for this, especially those in the matatu business who want to earn more than they should.
Elsewhere, says a traffic police officer, driving under the influence of alcohol or any other hard drug has become a national pastime, especially during weekends and public holidays.
A while back, says traffic officer Jane Naliaka, the government tried to curb the practice by introducing the Michuki rules and ‘alcoblow’ machines, but these were withdrawn after some people went to court questioning their legality.
Speeding is the other issue in this dilemma that should be addressed. Speed thrills but it also kills, she stressed when KNA interviewed her recently.
In order to save Kenyans from needless accidents, the government should implement very strict and exhaustive regulations on drivers and if anyone is charged with an offence, they should be liable to very high penalties to be an example to others.
Pointing fingers at government and the police every time a fatal accident occurs is self-defeating. Let us first remove the logs in our own eyes,” Naliaka concluded.
By George Agimba
