Enhance road safety

The resurgence in fatal and serious injury road accidents across the country should alarm the authorities. This should, indeed, be a wake-up call to the national agencies whose mandate is to enhance road safety.

The Traffic Department of the National Police Service and the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) must come out and confront this growing menace.

There are increasing reports of serious road accidents from across the country. They include Saturday's accident involving a bus and several other motor vehicles on the Eldoret-Nakuru highway.

The bus was reportedly involved in a collision with a stationary truck and a car before veering off the road, with a number of passengers injured and trapped in it.

This came on the heels of yet another bus accident on the same highway at Migaa near the notorious Salgaa black spot, in which 14 passengers were killed and 55 injured on Tuesday morning.

Causes of accidents

The Mombasa-bound bus is said to have had mechanical problems, including brake failure. It had reportedly broken down at Kericho and a mechanic had been sent to fix it.

And on Friday, two people were killed and more than 20 injured when a school bus and a truck collided on the Gitaru-Kikuyu road at an accident-prone spot.

Nearly 2,000 people have perished on the roads since January, steadily approaching the annual 3,000 deaths toll. Road traffic accidents strain the national health system.

Failure to enforce traffic safety rules and regulations is largely to blame. Human error, especially by drivers, speeding, reckless and dangerous driving are major causes of accidents. The use of unroadworthy vehicles, drink-driving, and not wearing seatbelts hamper efforts to curb accidents.

As the authorities urge motorists to exercise caution on the roads, traffic police and NTSA officials must enhance monitoring to enforce speed limits and avert the grave danger.