Bloomberg Philanthropies in conjunction with the Mombasa County Government has initiated road safety measures to reduce road carnage in the coastal city.
The initiative which is being implemented in 28 cities around the world with a special focus on reducing speed is aimed at reducing road accidents by over 50 per cent by the year 2025.
According to Bloomberg Philanthropies Director Kelly Larson, over 1.3 million people are killed annually as a result of road accidents worldwide.
“We have initiated measures globally to reduce road traffic fatalities and injuries. About 50 per cent of all deaths occur among vulnerable road users including motor cyclists and pedestrians,” said Larson.
She was speaking at PrideInn Paradise Beach Resort in Mombasa during the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, organized by the World Health Organization, in low- and middle-income countries around the world.
The two-day global road safety forum involved participants from overseas and major stakeholders from the transport sector.
Mombasa city is one of the 28 cities in the world selected to be supported over the course of the next three and a-half years to continue working on road safety and reduce road traffic fatalities and injuries.
The organization has been supporting road safety since 2007 working with national governments from low middle income countries to strengthen their road safety legislations.
“Since 2007, Bloomberg Philanthropies’ investment in road safety has saved nearly 312,000 lives and prevented up to 11.5 million injuries,” Larson said.
She noted that Bloomberg recognizes that designing streets for all road users and not just vehicles is one way to prevent road traffic fatalities.
The organization has previously partnered with Kenya from 2010 to 2014 working in Thika and Naivasha on the same program.
“We commend the commitment by Kenya to reduce road traffic fatalities and injuries,” said Bloomberg Director.
The organization which is based in New York City, United States of America focuses mainly on environment, public health, the arts, government innovation and education.
Mombasa County Transport Executive Taufiq Balala lauded the organization for initiating the program saying the country needs to change the designing of roads as part of measures to address road carnage.
He said that much focus has been given to motor vehicle users instead of pedestrians when designing roads.
According to a report by the National Transport and Safety Authority and the National Police Service released in January this year, a total of 4,571 people lost their lives in road accidents last year compared to 3,963 in the year 2020.
By Mohamed Hassan
