The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) has assured the public that they have put in place measures to avert road carnage during the forthcoming festive season.
The Nyanza NTSA regional manager Isaac Silahi disclosed that the authority has put in place measures to counter the escalated road carnage common during the festive season of Christmas holidays and New Year celebrations.
“In Collaboration with the National Police Service we shall continue to do the compliance checks so that we are able to ascertain that the PSVS and heavy commercial vehicles speed governors are working and that we normally do and will continue to do and we will engage the citizenry and the public much more through road safety campaigns and forums so that we are able to remind ourselves what are the basics that are important” disclosed Silahi.
He further disclosed that reports indicate that pedestrians are the largest casualties of road carnage in a worrying trend.
“You can see that these are very high numbers hence we need collaborative efforts together so we can bring the numbers down and that’s split in various categories and pedestrians at the moment are the most vulnerable group followed by the motorcyclists” noted Silahi.
Silahi who spoke in Kisumu cautioned drivers of private vehicles including the public service vehicles to ensure they are careful and reduce road carnage.
“As we go through the festive season our message is that there’s going to be a lot of motorists so I want to advice our drivers to be extra careful and to be mindful of other road users and to reduce speed while on the roads and avoid over speeding because over speeding contributes to over 40% of fatalities on the roads” cautioned Silahi.
He further cautioned the drivers to ensure they are equally responsible and the road users mostly pedestrians to be keen while using the roads and refrain from dangerous habits like talking on the phone while crossing the road including keeping off drinking and for passengers to ensure they always wear safety belts.
By Milton Onyango
