Nairobi roads claimed 300 lives in the year 2014
Four city roads emerged as the most notorious accident zones last year, claiming nearly 300 lives between them.
The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) lists them as Mombasa Road, Waiyaki Way, Thika Superhighway and North Airport Road in Nairobi.
The trend placed Nairobi on top of the list of 10 counties with the highest road carnage numbers in 2014.
North Airport Road, in particular, has been identified as the most risky road in the country.
It is less than two kilometres and stretches between the turnoff from Mombasa Road and the Taj Mall.
This has prompted Transport Cabinet Secretary Michael Kamau to direct the Kenya National Highways Authority to move with speed to avert more deaths.
“The authority will erect footbridges and pedestrian fences to make pedestrians use designated crossing points. We will work with the governments in the 10 most affected counties to reduce deaths,” he said.
The top 10 worst counties are Nairobi (561), Nakuru (156), Kiambu (113), Kisumu (95), Mombasa (90), Makueni (82), Machakos (82), Kakamega (77), Bungoma (69) and Kilifi (57).
ROAD DEATH RATE
Mr Kamau was speaking on Sunday during a thanksgiving service in Nairobi for the drop in road death rate nationally from 3,218 in 2013 to last year’s 2,907.
“The 311 lives saved in 2014 is something commendable, but then again over 2,900 lives perished on our roads. This is a bitter-sweet moment, more needs to be done. We are all responsible to reduce road carnage.”
NTSA Director-General Francis Meja said 5,140 people were seriously injured in accidents last year, compared to 6,289 for 2013, representing a drop by 18 per cent.
He attributed the drop to measures such as coming into force of the authority as required by the United Nations, self-regulation among passenger transport saccos, which has improved compliance with traffic laws and regulations, use of digital speed limiters and alcohol breath tests.
The authority also conducted intensive road safety campaigns that included advertisements in the media over the December holidays.
The climax of the ceremony, held at Kenyatta International Convention Centre, was the lighting of 2,907 candles for each of the lives lost on the roads last year.